A State-Backed Platform Enabling Child Marriage in Iran – irannewsupdate.com

Report on the Institutional Facilitation of Child Marriage in Iran and its Conflict with Sustainable Development Goals

An online matchmaking platform in Iran, “Adam and Eve,” is systematically facilitating child marriage, directly contravening multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The platform’s operations, supported by a permissive legal framework and state-affiliated institutions, highlight a severe failure to protect children’s rights and undermine progress toward gender equality, justice, and well-being.

Violation of SDG 5: Gender Equality

Systematic Undermining of Target 5.3

The “Adam and Eve” platform’s core function directly opposes SDG Target 5.3, which calls for the elimination of all harmful practices, including child, early, and forced marriage. The service explicitly allows for the registration of minors as marriage candidates, with documented cases of profiles being created for children as young as thirteen.

• The platform enables parents to create marriage profiles for underage children without effective age or identity verification.
• Iranian law establishes a minimum marriage age of thirteen for girls and fifteen for boys, a legal framework that institutionalizes child marriage rather than preventing it.
• The platform’s executive director has confirmed its compliance with these low age thresholds, demonstrating how national law is used to legitimize a practice condemned by international standards.

Impact on Broader Sustainable Development Goals

Contravention of SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

The case exposes a profound failure of institutional responsibility, a key component of SDG 16. The legal and regulatory environment fails to uphold Target 16.2, which aims to end abuse, exploitation, and all forms of violence against children.

• Legal Loopholes: Iranian law permits marriage below the minimum age with parental consent and a court ruling, creating a legal pathway for exploitation.
• Lack of Safeguards: The platform operates with no meaningful checks on consent, psychological maturity, or the potential for coercion.
• State-Affiliated Support: The platform is promoted by state-backed media and supported by a network of institutions, including universities and foundations, indicating that child marriage is not a fringe issue but is reinforced by the state apparatus.

Adverse Effects on SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) and SDG 4 (Quality Education)

The practice of child marriage, as facilitated by this platform, has devastating consequences for the health, well-being, and educational attainment of children, particularly girls.

1. Health and Well-being (SDG 3): Early marriage is linked to severe physical and psychological harm. Reports cite recent deaths of teenage brides from domestic violence, illustrating the life-threatening risks. Children lack the emotional and neurological maturity for marriage and parenthood, leading to long-term mental health challenges.
2. Quality Education (SDG 4): Child marriage is a primary barrier to education. Girls who are married off early are often forced to abandon their schooling, denying them opportunities for personal development and economic autonomy and perpetuating cycles of disadvantage.

Perpetuation of Poverty and Inequality (SDG 1 & SDG 10)

The platform’s user data reveals that a significant number of underage registrations originate from deprived and marginalized provinces. This pattern demonstrates how child marriage is intertwined with poverty and inequality, directly hindering progress on SDG 1 (No Poverty) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). By pushing children into early unions, the practice traps families in a cycle of poverty and limits the economic potential of young girls.

Conclusion: A Systemic Barrier to Sustainable Development

The “Adam and Eve” platform is not an isolated entity but a manifestation of a state-sanctioned system that normalizes the exploitation of children. This system is fundamentally incompatible with the principles of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Recommendations for SDG Alignment

Achieving progress on the SDGs in this context requires immediate and decisive action. Without comprehensive legal and institutional reform that recognizes eighteen as the universal minimum age for marriage, Iran will continue to fail its children and violate its international commitments to sustainable and equitable development.

• Legislative reform is essential to establish a non-negotiable minimum marriage age of eighteen, aligning national law with international human rights standards and SDG Target 5.3.
• Regulatory bodies must enforce strict oversight on all platforms and institutions to prevent the facilitation of child marriage, thereby strengthening protections under SDG 16.2.
• Efforts must be made to address the root causes of child marriage, including poverty and lack of educational opportunities, to create an environment where children’s rights are protected.

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

SDG 5: Gender Equality

• The article’s central theme is child marriage, a practice that disproportionately affects girls. It highlights how girls as young as thirteen are registered as marriage candidates, which strips them of their autonomy, education, and childhood. This is a direct violation of gender equality principles, as the article notes girls are “pushed into marriage considerably earlier” than boys and face consequences like losing “access to education, emotional development, and autonomy.”

SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

• The article exposes a systemic failure of legal and institutional frameworks. It describes a “systemic legal vacuum” and the “absence of legal protection for minors.” The matchmaking platform operates with “institutional support” and “official permission,” and efforts to reform the law were “blocked in parliament.” This points to weak institutions that fail to protect children from abuse and exploitation, directly connecting to the goal of building just and effective institutions.

SDG 4: Quality Education

• The article explicitly states that a major consequence of child marriage for girls is the loss of educational opportunities. It mentions that girls pushed into early marriage are “often losing access to education.” This directly undermines the goal of ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education for all.

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

• The severe health consequences of child marriage are a key issue. The article warns that early marriage “routinely leads to severe physical, psychological, and social harm.” It provides examples of “the death of teenage brides” and “violent injuries,” illustrating the direct negative impact on the physical and mental well-being of children.

SDG 1: No Poverty

• The article identifies poverty as a root cause of child marriage. It states that much of the registration activity originates from “deprived regions where early marriage reflects… the deeper crisis of poverty.” This shows how economic hardship drives families to marry off their children, perpetuating a cycle of poverty and deprivation.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

SDG 5: Gender Equality

• Target 5.3: “Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.” The entire article is a case study of the institutionalization of child marriage, which is the primary harmful practice addressed.

SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

• Target 16.2: “End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children.” The article frames child marriage as the “legalized exploitation of children” and links it to “sexual exploitation and domestic abuse,” “violent injuries,” and death, which are all forms of violence against children.

SDG 4: Quality Education

• Target 4.1: “By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education…” The article directly connects child marriage to the denial of this right, stating that girls “are pushed into marriage considerably earlier, often losing access to education.”

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

• Target 3.4: “By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being.” The article’s mention of “severe physical, psychological, and social harm” and the death of teenage brides directly relates to promoting well-being and preventing premature mortality.

SDG 1: No Poverty

• Target 1.3: “Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all…” The article highlights the “absence of legal protection for minors” and links child marriage to “deprived regions” and poverty, indicating a failure of social protection systems to safeguard vulnerable children.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

Indicator for Target 5.3

• The article provides direct statistical data that can be used to measure the prevalence of child marriage, aligning with Indicator 5.3.1 (Proportion of women aged 20-24 years who were married or in a union before age 18). Specific data points mentioned include:
  • “Official records show more than twenty thousand marriages involving minors annually.”
  • “tens of thousands of marriages under the age of eighteen are recorded each year.”
  • The legal minimum marriage age is “thirteen for girls and fifteen for boys.”

Indicator for Target 16.2

• While not providing quantitative statistics on violence, the article offers strong qualitative indicators of child exploitation and abuse, relevant to Indicator 16.2.1 (Proportion of children aged 1-17 years who experienced any physical punishment and/or psychological aggression). These indicators include:
  • “Recent cases involving the death of teenage brides.”
  • A minor who “died from violent injuries inflicted by a twenty-seven-year-old spouse.”
  • The practice creates “fertile conditions for sexual exploitation and domestic abuse.”

Indicator for Target 4.1

• The article implies an indicator related to educational attainment. The statement that girls pushed into early marriage are “often losing access to education” suggests that the school dropout rate for girls in regions with high child marriage rates would be a key indicator of the problem’s impact.

Indicator for Target 3.4

• The article implies indicators related to health and well-being through its description of the negative consequences of child marriage. The prevalence of “severe physical, psychological, and social harm” among child brides serves as a direct, albeit qualitative, indicator of the failure to protect their well-being.

Indicator for Target 1.3

• The article points to the “absence of legal protection for minors” and the concentration of child marriage in “deprived regions” as indicators of failed social protection systems. The high rates of underage marriage in provinces like “Sistan and Baluchestan, South Khorasan, and Kerman” serve as a geographic indicator of where these systems are weakest.

4. Table of SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: irannewsupdate.com