International News

Iraq Can Now Force Girls as Young as 9 to Get Married 

On Tuesday, January 21, the Iraqi Parliament passed a series of three laws that have effectively legalized child marriage in Iraq. The purpose of the amendments is to give Islamic courts greater authority over marriage and divorce. These amendments override the Iraqi Personal Status Law of 1959, which included protections for women and girls and set the minimum age for marriage to 18. 

Now that the Islamic courts are allowed to interpret the rules of marriage through religious principles, instead of following the Personal Status Law, girls as young as 9 could be forced to marry. A study by the organization Girls Not Brides found that, currently, about 30% of Iraqi girls are married before they are 18, and this percentage is sure to increase as the new amendments are implemented. Although the Iraqi Parliament has not wavered in their support of the amendments, human rights organizations, such as EqualityNow, are currently pushing for legal reform in Iraq. 

Ceasefire in Gaza

On January 15, 2025, a 42-day ceasefire agreement was signed between Israel and Hamas after lengthy negotiations conducted by the United States and Qatar. Four days later, on January 19, the ceasefire went into effect, bringing a temporary promise of peace to a region that has been ravaged by constant violence for almost a year and a half. 

The main conditions of the ceasefire are that IDF forces will leave heavily populated areas of Gaza, and Palestinians who have been living in refugee camps or have been displaced will be allowed to return to their homes. The IDF will pull out of the Netzarim Corridor, allowing North and South Gaza to be reconnected. In addition, Hamas will release 33 hostages who have been held in Gaza since the horrific October 7th, 2023 attack, while Israel will release over 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom were never charged nor put on trial. 

Although this ceasefire holds more potential to end this conflict than the first ceasefire, which lasted less than a week, the violence has not completely stopped.  On Monday, January 20, a 5-year-old girl was killed by the IDF in the Nuseirat refugee camp, and many more instances of violence have occurred as Palestinians attempt to return to their homes. President Trump recently expressed an interest to “clean out” all of Gaza by sending refugees to neighboring countries like Egypt and Jordan, both of which condemned this plan as ethnic cleansing. However, on Tuesday,  Feb 4, the President doubled down on this statement and also expressed a desire for the United States to take control of Gaza. Advocates on both sides of the war are hoping that the fragile peace can be maintained and that the people of Gaza experience a permanent end to the violence.

US-Cuba Relations 

In early 2025, U.S.-Cuba relations became a place of political divide when former President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump proposed at opposite ends of the spectrum toward policy options. The contrasting modes of the two leaders' policy towards Cuba, especially in terms of human right/national security and economic dealings, illustrated a larger ideological split in US foreign policy towards Cuba. 

In January, President Biden put in place a series of reforms to restart relations with Cuba. One of the most significant steps was his decision to propose removing Cuba from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, a place it has held since 2021. Biden's administration maintained that Cuba had not perpetrated international terrorism in the past 6 months, and thus, has met the criteria for removal from the list. This action was part of a larger plan to relax control over Cuba's military and state sectors, reversing the restrictive measures to which Cuba was subjected by the Trump administration. Biden also temporarily halted litigation under the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act, which could have been used in lawsuits regarding Cuban expropriated U.S. property. 

Only a few days after that, President Trump reinstated these respectively by revoking Cuba’s terrorism state sponsorship designation as well as Cuba's military's restrictions. According to Trump's administration, these actions were deemed unavoidable for ensuring that Cuba would not use its support of authoritarian governments like Venezuela to advance its interests, and to force the Cuban government to treat human rights issues better. 

Corridor politics between the two administrations have generated considerable discussion in the U.S. Congress, some members calling for a more open U.S.-Cuba relationship, whereas others push for tighter sanctions to deprive the Cuban government of financial leverage. With the emerging array of policies, the fate of the U.S.-Cuba relations is still open to debate.

Ukraine War 

As Russia's invasion of Ukraine nears its third anniversary in February 2025, the conflict shows no signs of ending. Although Russia controls a little more than one-fifth of Ukraine's territory, recent developments in the Donetsk region indicate a slow, but steady advance. However, the war has become largely stagnant, characterized as a “war of attrition”. Both sides have suffered heavy casualties, and although neither side officially releases casualty figures, estimates suggest hundreds of thousands have been lost. 

Ukraine has been presented with enormous difficulties as it has a population smaller than that of Russia and lacks the capacity to recruit and organize personnel in the way that Russia can, although manpower limitation has also been equally challenging on the Russian side. While Putin’s previous attempt at full mobilization failed and led to mass evacuations, Russia has resorted to paying people to fight. Despite this, they continue to face difficulties replenishing their forces, leading to the involvement of foreign fighters, including North Korean soldiers. 

The only options for the war seem to include a Russian breakthrough, a continuation of the status quo, or a Ukrainian offensive reclaiming territory as they did in the fall of 2022, though the latter seems unlikely at present. Trump could either abandon Ukraine entirely, forcing Europe to take the lead, or he could pressure Putin into negotiation with certain concessions. Independently, U.S. support in the future is uncertain, and thus further complicates an already unstable environment.

 As the war continues on, Ukraine's strategic trajectory depends not just upon military planning, but on the actions of international affairs, mainly including the United States. As alliances change and political leadership is uncertain, the next stage of this devastating war is unclear.