National Commission for Justices and Peace (NCJP) in collaboration with the National Commission for Human Rights addressed the issue of forced conversions and marriages of underage girls belonging to minority communities.
As per details, a joint panel of NCJP and the National Commission for Human Rights Punjab hold a press conference on 5 December in Lahore. The Panelists Includes: Nadeem Ashraf (Member/ Commissioner NCHR-Punjab), Bushra Khalique (Executive Director Wise), Dr. Kalyan Singh (Prof. Govt. College University Lahore), Irfan Mufti (Deputy Director- South Asia Partnership Pakistan), Adv. Sobia Javed (Lahore High Court), and Naeem Yousaf Gill (Executive Director NCJP).
The panelists urged that the government must implement the constitutional guarantees of article 20, 25 and most importantly the article 36 which guarantees and ensure the protection of the rights of the religious minorities. The speakers shared that provincial and the federal should acknowledged the prevalence of the forced religious conversions, abduction and underage marriages and have to move towards the legislation and implementation to curb this prevailing issue.
Marginality and the discrimination is the name of the minority women and girls suffering in the wake of forced conversion and marriages. Every year a numbers of minor girls and women belonging to the Hindu and Christian community are becoming victims of abduction, forced marriage and forced conversions particularly in Punjab & Sindh.
Given the dire situation, the speakers also stated that now after the 18th Amendment in the constitution the provinces are independent and autonomous in-terms of legislation, thus every province can have its own law to set the age of marriage and criminalizing forced conversions and set precedent for the other provinces and the federal government. As a human rights group we believe that under age marriages and forced conversion are severe form of gender based violence because it has a long term impact on psychosocial and physical wellbeing of the minor girl, so we proposed the followings recommendations:
- Criminalize Forced religious Conversions followed by child marriage. The definition of 'forced conversion' should be added to the legal framework of the state and legislation must be made on the said issue.
- Set the legally valid age for marriage at 18 years across Pakistan for both boys and girls through amendment in the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929. Under the section 4 of this Act, sub-section 4(1) should be inserted that Nikkah/Marriage performed under the age of 18 years, should be declared null and void as in present situation the act does not invalidate the Nikkah/Marriage.
- The concerned authority should bound the Nikkah Khawan to acquire proof of 18 years of age from the couple before solemnizing the Nikkah/Marriage in order to reduce the child marriages.
- Ensure accurate investigation of facts. Senior Civil Judge should ascertain the presence of free will, consent, the factual accuracy of age and marital status of the parties.
- Consider the validity of CRC. During the proceedings of such cases, "The Child Registration Certificate" (CRC) is a document used to register minors under the age of 18 years. Therefore, this document be considered undisputed when determining the age of a minor.
- Section 498 – B of PPC should not be avoided. The police all over the country must investigate all pending and future cases of such nature under Section 498-B of the Pakistan Penal Code, which prohibits the forced marriage.
- Custody of the victim should be given to the family. The custody of the abducted and allegedly converted immediately given to the family or legal guardian immediately.
National Commission for Justices and Peace (NCJP) a Human Rights body of the Pakistan Catholic Bishop’s conference. The Commission focuses on the human rights of the marginalized, especially religious minorities, women, children and labour in Pakistan. NCJP has observed the cases of child & forced marriages and violence against women remains high and challenging especially for the most vulnerable women and girls at legislative and at implementation level. specially for the most vulnerable women and girls at legislative and at implementation level.