Geneva – In a recent statement, UN experts voiced their dismay regarding the ongoing absence of safeguards for young women and girls belonging to minority communities in Pakistan.
The experts highlighted the particularly vulnerable position of Christian and Hindu girls, who are at risk of various human rights abuses, including forced religious conversion, abduction, trafficking, child, early and forced marriage, domestic servitude, and sexual violence. They underscored the urgent need to address these issues and put an end to the impunity surrounding such crimes.
Of particular concern to the experts is the validation of forced marriages and religious conversions by the courts, often citing religious law to justify keeping victims with their abductors rather than allowing them to return to their families. They condemned the lack of accountability for perpetrators, with law enforcement sometimes dismissing crimes under the pretext of ‘love marriages.’
The experts emphasized that child, early, and forced marriage cannot be justified on religious or cultural grounds, reiterating that consent is irrelevant when the victim is a child under the age of 18, as per international law.
“A woman’s right to choose a spouse and freely enter into marriage is fundamental to her dignity and equality as a human being and must be safeguarded by law,” the experts asserted. They called for provisions to invalidate, annul, or dissolve marriages contracted under duress, with a focus on the well-being of the affected women and girls, along with ensuring access to justice, remedy, protection, and adequate assistance for victims.
Drawing attention to specific cases of forced religious conversions, such as the abduction and forced conversion of Mishal Rasheed in 2022 and the abduction and conversion of a 13-year-old Christian girl in March 2024, the experts stressed the importance of upholding children’s rights to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, as outlined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
In 2022, a young Sikh girl, Dina Kaur, was abducted at gunpoint from her home in Buner district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. She was raped, forcibly converted to Islam, and married to her rapist. The family was made to run from pillar to post, but the authorities did not redress their grievances and gave false assurances while Dina was undergoing untold suffering. “All the authorities have misled us in Pakistan. Our demonstration will continue until we get justice.” Representatives of the Sikh community and organizations of the Pakistan Panchayat directly appealed to the global Sikh community to join them for the release ‘of our daughter.’ “I beseech all Sikhs to demonstrate solidarity with us wherever they are, and if possible, join our demonstration against the high-handedness, cruelty, and attack on us. Our daughter has been kidnapped, tortured, and forced to sign a false affidavit and forced nikahnama (Muslim marriage contract).”
Community leaders also appealed to their Pakhtoon brethren to join them in their fight for justice, adding, “If they do not stand by us in this hour of struggle for justice, I am afraid we have no place in this country.”
In October 2021, a Pakistan parliamentary committee rejected a proposed bill to protect minorities against forced conversion. The bill was also opposed by Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs, with members arguing that imposing an age limit for conversions by non-Muslims “goes against Islam and the Constitution of Pakistan.”
The experts urged Pakistani authorities to enact and enforce laws to ensure marriages are based on the free and full consent of both parties, with a minimum marriage age of 18 for all individuals, regardless of gender or religion. They emphasized the necessity of treating all women and girls equally, without discrimination based on religious or cultural background.
UN experts and USCIRF have reiterated the urgency of addressing these egregious human rights violations. They called on Pakistani authorities to enforce existing legal protections, hold perpetrators accountable, and fulfill the country’s international human rights obligations.
In addition, they stressed the importance of providing equal treatment and safeguarding the rights of all women and girls, regardless of their religious or cultural background. Together, they urged concerted action to address the underlying causes of discrimination and violence against religious minorities, striving towards a society where every individual can live free from fear and persecution.
