Pakistan urged to finish forced conversions and marriages

A UN-appointed body has urged Pakistan to accentuate efforts to eradicate forced conversions and marriages, noting that young minority girls consistently fall victim to Islamist coercion.

To prevent forced conversions and marriages, the independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) urged Pakistan to lift the minimum age of marriage to 18 across all provinces and territories, criminalize forced religious conversion as a definite offense and implement laws related to human trafficking and sexual violence.

They also echoed recommendations from UN treaty bodies calling for prompt, impartial investigations into all allegations and accountability for perpetrators.

“We are deeply concerned that law enforcement authorities often dismiss complaints lodged by victims’ families, fail to analyze or prosecute forced conversions in a timely manner, or neglect to properly assess the age of victims,” the panel concluded in a press release.

The statement called for comprehensive, gender-responsive support services for survivors, including secure shelters, legal aid, psychological counseling and reintegration programs.

Pakistan has yet to adequately address underlying drivers reminiscent of gender inequality, poverty, social exclusion, religious intolerance and discrimination against minorities, they said within the statement.

“Freedom of faith or belief and equality have to be ensured for all without discrimination,” they said.

Voicing concern over the continued and widespread abduction and compelled religious conversion of girls and girls from minority communities in Pakistan, the panel warned that impunity was allowing the practice to persist. They said conversions carried out within the context of marriage have to be free from coercion and based on full consent – conditions that can’t be met in cases involving minors.

“Any change of faith or belief have to be genuinely free from coercion, and marriage have to be based on full and free consent, which shouldn’t be legally possible when the victim is a baby,” the panel stated.

The statement was endorsed by the UN’s Tomoya Obokata, special rapporteur on contemporary types of slavery; Nazila Ghanea, special rapporteur on freedom of faith or belief; Nicolas Levrat, special rapporteur on minority issues; Siobhán Mullally, special rapporteur on trafficking in individuals, especially women and kids; Claudia Flores (Chair), Ivana Krstić (Vice-Chair), Dorothy Estrada Tanck, Haina Lu, and Laura Nyirinkindi of the working group on discrimination against women and girls; and Reem Alsalem, special rapporteur on violence against women and girls.

Last yr, about 75 percent of reported victims of forced conversion through marriage were Hindu, while 25 percent were Christian, the panel stated. Nearly 80 percent of those incidents were recorded in Sindh Province. Adolescent girls between the ages of 14 and 18 were identified as particularly vulnerable, though some victims were reportedly even younger.

The panel highlighted that poverty and social marginalization further increase the risks faced by minority women and girls.

“These women and girls endure a continuous sense of terror, face coercion and are deprived of their freedom of faith or belief and autonomy under patriarchal and political pressures. This must stop,” they stated.

The scale and persistence of such violations indicate systemic discrimination against non-Muslim women and girls, who are sometimes compelled to convert to Islam with a purpose to marry Muslim men, the panel stated.

At the identical time, the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) renewed its call for laws criminalizing forced conversions, following the recent release of a report entitled, “Captive Souls: The Untold Story of Pakistan’s Minority Girls.”

The report, based on cases involving Christian girls between 2021 and 2025, found that conversions were consistently carried out through coercive means, including threats, intimidation, deception and economic pressure.

“In many cases, individuals are compelled to convert with a purpose to escape discrimination, violence, or social marginalization, or to resolve economic pressures reminiscent of debt,” the report stated.

NCJP Executive Director Naeem Yousaf Gill said Pakistan lacks a particular law criminalizing forced religious conversion and called for formal state recognition of the problem as a primary step toward reform.

“Only then can the state earnestly tackle the issue through comprehensive laws designed to guard the rights of non secular minorities, particularly women and girls,” he said.

Gill proposed safeguards including due process in conversion cases, a minimum age requirement for conversion, strict penalties for coercion, independent verification mechanisms, victim support services and specialized courts for expedited proceedings.

The report also criticized a Feb. 3 ruling by Pakistan’s Federal Constitutional Court that upheld the Islamic marriage of a 13-year-old Christian girl, Maria Shahbaz, with a 30-year-old Muslim accused of abducting her, despite official documentation indicating she was below the legal marriage age.

Catholic Church leaders, including Catholics Bishops Conference President Bishop Samson Shukardin and NCJP National Director Bernard Emmanuel, said such cases raise concerns about inconsistent application of kid marriage laws.

“Courts usually are not consistently applying laws that prohibits the wedding of anyone under 18 years of age,” a joint statement said. “This selective application of the law is deeply troubling.”

They emphasized that while judicial independence have to be respected, courts are obligated to be certain that cases involving forced conversion and underage marriage are handled transparently and consistent with constitutional and international human rights standards.

Pakistan ranked eighth on Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List of nations where it’s most difficult to be a Christian. The report cited forced conversions, abductions and gaps in legal protections amongst key concerns.

© Christian Daily International–Morning Star News