Iraq's parliament postponed a session scheduled for Tuesday to push ahead with controversial amendments to the nation’s Personal Status Law that, if passed, would allow for girls as young as nine to be married.
The proposed amendments, supported by Islamist parties in parliament, would give religious authorities a say in governing marriage and inheritance matters. They would also strip Iraqi women of many of their divorce and inheritance rights.
“We will not be part of a parliament session in which a law that legalises minors' marriage, strips the rights of the mothers and increases the sectarian divisions in the society to be passed,” legislator Noor Nafea Al Jilaihawi wrote on X.
She called on MPs “who believe in the importance of family and the necessity of preserving it not to attend the session in order not to pass the second reading”.
On August 4, the parliament completed the first reading of the bill, considered the initial step to accepting draft laws and starting the process. The second reading, which was scheduled for Tuesday, was meant to begin the debate on suggested bills and amendments. If the second reading is approved, the bill would then be eligible to be put to a vote in the third reading.
The session was supposed to start at 1pm, but later that afternoon Parliament announced a postponement until further notice amid calls to boycott the session by many parties.
Kurdish lawmaker Ala Talabani said the Parliament's "insistence on passing an amendment and not listening to opposition popular opinions, and not agreeing to hold any workshop or hearing within Parliament, to discuss the law, is clear evidence of the intentions of some parties in power to pass their partisan agendas and break the will of others".
"We reiterate once again another concern which is the disintegration of society and its sectarian division, and the violation of the provisions of the Constitution and Iraq’s international obligations regarding the rights of children and women," Mrs Talabani said in a statement.
Critics said the amendments would further cement sectarianism in Iraq as they allow couples to choose between the provisions of the Personal Status Law or the provisions of specific Islamic schools of jurisprudence. If a couple are from two different sects, the school followed by the husband’s sect would apply.
The proposed amendments have led to widespread demonstrations and debate between Iraqis who are pro-civil rights and religious institutions, which have gained more power over the past two decades.
In an opinion poll conducted by the Iraq Polling Team NGO this month, more than 73 per cent expressed “strong opposition” to the amendments to the current Personal Status Law that has been in place since 1959.
In contrast, only about 24 per cent of those surveyed expressed strong support for the changes while about 3 per cent remained indifferent.
On Monday, the EU mission in Iraq voiced concern over the proposed amendments to the law. In a statement on X, the mission said it was examining these and “reaching out to Iraqi interlocutors seeking their views”.
“We hope that the legislators will ensure the compatibility between the revised text and Iraq’s legal framework and international law obligations, including when it comes to ratified international conventions,” it said.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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