Iraq is poised to slash the legal age of consent from 18 to to nine, allowing men to marry young children. The proposed legal change also deprives women of rights to divorce, child custody and inheritance.

The new law would allow men to marry children as young as nine years old and has been branded a "catastrophe for women" by activists who are fighting to stop it.

Iraq stands at the brink of a legal upheaval that could change the course of women’s rights in the country. With a proposal to lower the age of consent for girls to just nine and strip women of key protections like divorce,

Iraq 'to pass law' allowing girls as young as nine to marry while stripping women of other rights - Amendment set to end freedoms given to women under Law 188