Experts from the United Nations last week expressed alarm citing the rise in abductions, forced marriages and conversions of underage girls and young women from religious minorities in Pakistan.
The Shehbaz Sharif-led government was told to take immediate steps to end these issues and ensure justice for those who have been subjected to brutality.
“We urge the government to take immediate steps to prevent and thoroughly investigate these acts objectively and in line with domestic legislation and international human rights commitments. Perpetrators must be held fully accountable,” the experts told the Pakistan government.
They said they were alarmed to find out that teenage girls, as young as 13, were kidnapped, trafficked to places far away from their homes and forcibly married to men twice their age.
They also pointed out that they were also coerced into converting to Islam, which is in violation of international human rights laws.
“We are very concerned that such marriages and conversions take place under threat of violence to these girls and women or their families,” the committee said.
The experts also criticised Pakistan for lack of access to justice for those the aggrieved parties. They pointed out citing data that these ‘so-called marriages and conversions’ happen with religious authorities involved and with the security forces and justice system also being involved.
The UN report citing data said that there are indications that the Pakistan judicial system acts as an enabler because in most cases it fails to critically examine fraudulent evidence presented by the perpetrators. It could either be false evidence regarding the aggrieved party’s adulthood or citing that the marriage or the act of conversion was voluntary.
The report said that the court misused interpretations of ‘religious law to justify victims remaining with their abusers.’
“Abductors force their victims to sign documents which falsely attest to their being of legal age for marriage as well as marrying and converting of free will. These documents are cited by the police as evidence that no crime has occurred,” the report said.
“Pakistani authorities must adopt and enforce legislation prohibiting forced conversions, forced and child marriages, kidnapping, and trafficking, and abide by their international human rights commitments to combat slavery and human trafficking and uphold the rights of women and children,” the report directed.
The report was published under the aegis of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls.
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