UN rights experts on Monday deplored the reported rise in abductions, forced marriages and conversions of girls from Pakistan’s religious minorities, urging the government to quickly end such practices.
“We are deeply concerned to hear that girls as young as 13 are kidnapped from their families, sold to locations far from their homes, taken to marry men sometimes twice their age, and forced to convert to Islam,” the experts said.
“We are deeply concerned that these marriages and conversions take place with the threat of violence against these girls and women, or their families.”
The experts called on the Pakistani government “to take immediate measures to prevent and thoroughly investigate such acts”.
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Child marriage: evidence of fraud accepted
A group of about a dozen independent United Nations rights experts including the UN special rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, on contemporary slavery, on violence against women and minority issues.
The investigation, he said, must be conducted “objectively and in accordance with domestic laws and international human rights commitments”.
The experts, appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but not speaking on behalf of the world body, shared a report showing that Pakistan’s judicial system allows offenses against religious minority girls and young women “by accepting, without critical examination, false evidence.” “.
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“Family members say that the complaints of the victims are rarely acted upon by the police, refusing to register the report or saying that no crime has been committed by labeling the abduction as a ‘love marriage’,” he said.
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Equal protection
Experts point out that the kidnappers often “force the victim to sign a false document proving that they are of legal age to marry, as well as marry and convert freely”.
“The document was cited by the police as evidence that no crime had taken place.”
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Experts insist that all victims, regardless of their religious background, have equal access to justice and protection under the law.
The Pakistani authorities, he said, “must adopt and enforce laws prohibiting forced conversion, forced and child marriage, kidnapping, and trafficking”.