{"id":30091,"date":"2026-04-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/press\/csw-welcomes-criminalisation-of-child-marriages-in-punjab-6794\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T19:16:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T18:16:18","slug":"csw-welcomes-criminalisation-of-child-marriages-in-punjab-6794","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/press\/csw-welcomes-criminalisation-of-child-marriages-in-punjab-6794\/","title":{"rendered":"CSW welcomes criminalisation of child marriages in Punjab"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CSW welcomes the passage<\/a> of the Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2026 by the Punjab Assembly in Pakistan as an important step towards preventing the abduction, forced conversion and forced marriage of Christian and Hindu girls which has been increasing in the province in recent years.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill, presented in the assembly by Punjab Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman and passed on 27 April, raises the minimum legal age for marriage for girls from 16 to 18 \u2013 as was already the case for boys \u2013 and declares underage marriage a non-bailable offence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The passage of the bill comes days after a group of United Nations (UN) experts expressed<\/a> concerns regarding the continued and widespread patterns of abduction and forced religious conversion through marriage affecting women and girls belonging to minority communities in Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experts also emphasised concerns regarding a culture of impunity by which perpetrators are emboldened, stating: \u2018We are deeply concerned that law enforcement authorities often dismiss complaints lodged by victims\u2019 families, fail to investigate or prosecute forced conversions in a timely manner, or neglect to properly assess the age of victims.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP), the human rights body of the Pakistan Catholic Bishops Conference, welcomed the passage of the bill in a statement, whilst emphasising that \u2018passing a law alone will not end the deep-rooted practice of child marriage\u2019 and calling for \u2018strong, uncompromising enforcement at every level\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSW partners in Pakistan documented 94 cases involving the abduction, forced conversion, and forced marriage of religious minority women and minor girls in 2025 \u2013 an increase from 83 in 2024. 76% of the victims were Hindu, 24% were Christian, and only 18% were adults. The majority of cases were documented in Sindh Province (79%), followed by Punjab (20%). The true figures are assumed to be much higher as many cases are not reported due to the intimidation of victims and their families by abductors, their relatives, or extremist groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSW\u2019s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: \u2018CSW welcomes the passage of the Child Marriage Restraint Bill by the Punjab Assembly, and we urge lawmakers across the country \u2013 particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Province, where the legal age for marriage is currently 16 for girls \u2013 to follow suit and amend all existing laws governing marriages of Muslims and religious minorities to standardise the legal age of 18 years for marriage. We also urge the government to go further still and enact legislation that explicitly criminalises forced conversion, ensuring that perpetrators and those complicit in such acts are held to account, and introduce legal safeguards to prevent the misuse of religious conversion claims in cases involving minority girls.\u2019<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note to Editors:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n
  1. The UN experts who expressed concern at abduction, forced conversion and forced marriage in Pakistan are as follows: Tomoya Obokata<\/strong>, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences; Nazila Ghanea<\/strong>, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief; Nicolas Levrat<\/strong>, Special Rapporteur on minority issues; Siobh\u00e1n Mullally<\/strong>, Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children; Claudia Flores<\/strong> (Chair), Ivana Krsti\u0107<\/strong> (Vice-Chair), Dorothy Estrada<\/strong> Tanck<\/strong>, Haina Lu<\/strong> y Laura Nyirinkindi<\/strong> of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls; and Reem Alsalem<\/strong>, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls.<\/li>\n\n<\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Thee passage of the Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2026 is an important step towards preventing the abduction, forced conversion and forced marriage of Christian and Hindu girls.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":44227,"template":"","categories":[],"regions":[126,121],"class_list":["post-30091","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-pakistan","regions-south-asia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/30091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/30091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40677,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/30091\/revisions\/40677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30091"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=30091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}