UN experts concerned over forced child marriages, urge Pakistan to end practice聽

Pakistani brides sit at a mass wedding ceremony in Karachi on February 12, 2008. (Photo courtesy: AFP/FILE)
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  • Experts demand Pakistan 鈥榯ake immediate steps to prevent, thoroughly investigate these acts鈥櫬�
  • Rapporteurs say investigations should be carried out 鈥榠n line with international commitments鈥櫬�

GENEVA: UN rights experts on Monday deplored a reported rise in abductions, forced marriages and conversions of girls from Pakistan鈥檚 religious minorities, urging the government to swiftly halt such practices. 

鈥淲e are deeply troubled to hear that girls as young as 13 are being kidnapped from their families, trafficked to locations far from their homes, made to marry men sometimes twice their age, and coerced to convert to Islam,鈥� the experts said. 

鈥淲e are very concerned that such marriages and conversions take place under threat of violence to these girls and women, or their families.鈥� 

The experts called on Pakistan鈥檚 government 鈥渢o take immediate steps to prevent and thoroughly investigate these acts.鈥� 

The group of around a dozen independent United Nations rights experts includes the UN special rapporteurs on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, on contemporary forms of slavery, on violence against women and on minority issues. 

Such investigations, it said, should be carried out 鈥渙bjectively and in line with domestic legislation and international human rights commitments.鈥� 

The experts, who are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but do not speak on behalf of the world body, pointed to reports indicating that Pakistan鈥檚 court system enables offenses against religious minority girls and young women 鈥渂y accepting, without critical examination, fraudulent evidence.鈥� 

鈥淔amily members say that victims鈥� complaints are rarely taken seriously by the police, either refusing to register these reports or arguing that no crime has been committed by labelling these abductions as 鈥榣ove marriages鈥�,鈥� they said. 

The experts pointed out that abductors often 鈥渇orce 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.鈥� 

鈥淭hese documents are cited by the police as evidence that no crime has occurred.鈥� 

The experts insisted it was vital that all victims, regardless of their religious background, be afforded access to justice and equal protection under the law. 

Pakistan鈥檚 authorities, they said, 鈥渕ust adopt and enforce legislation prohibiting forced conversions, forced and child marriages, kidnapping, and trafficking.鈥�