United Nations experts have expressed concern about forced marriages of girls from ethnic minority communities.
United Nations experts have expressed dismay at the continued lack of protection for young women and girls from Pakistan’s minority communities, especially Christians and Hindus, saying the country needs to fulfill its obligations under relevant international conventions.
“Christian and Hindu girls remain particularly vulnerable to forced religious conversion, abduction, trafficking, child, early and forced marriage, domestic servitude and sexual violence,” the experts said.
“Young women and girls from religious minorities are subjected to such egregious human rights violations and the impunity for such crimes can no longer be tolerated or justified,” the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement. Quote Expert words.
They expressed concern that courts have endorsed forced marriages and religious conversions of girls from religious minorities, often citing religious laws to justify keeping victims with their abductors rather than allowing them to return them to their parents. They said: “Criminals often evade responsibility and police dismiss crimes under the guise of ‘love marriages’.”
The experts stressed that child, early and forced marriage “cannot be justified on religious or cultural grounds” and stressed that under international law, consent does not matter when the victim is a child under 18 years of age.
“A woman’s right to choose a spouse and marry freely is vital to her life, dignity and equality as human beings and must be protected and upheld by law,” the experts said. They stressed the need for provisions to invalidate marriages concluded under duress. , invalidation or discharge, taking due account of the interests of the women and girls concerned and ensuring that victims have access to justice, redress, protection and adequate assistance.
The experts include Tomoya Obokata, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, its causes and consequences; Siobhán Mulally, Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children; Nicholas Lefla Special Rapporteur on minority issues; Nazra Ganea, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief; Dorothy Estrada Tanck (Chair), Claudia Flores, Ivana Krstić, Haina Lu and Laura Nyirinkindi, Discrimination against women and girls work group.
The experts also highlighted some cases of forced conversion of Hindu and Christian minorities, saying: “While children have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion under Article 14 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, conversion of religious beliefs Faith or belief under all circumstances must be free and free from coercion and undue inducement.
“Pakistan needs to fulfill its obligations under Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and prohibit forced religious conversions,” the experts said.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted on December 16, 1996, is an important multi-party human rights treaty that provides a series of protections for civil and political rights.
They also urged Pakistan to bring perpetrators to justice, enforce existing legal protections to prevent child, early and forced marriage, abduction and trafficking of minority girls, and uphold the country’s international human rights obligations, the statement said.
