The United Nations experts have raised alarm at the increasing rate of abductions, forced marriages and conversions of underage girls and young women from religious minorities in Pakistan.
According to reports, the so-called marriages and conversions take place with the involvement of religious authorities.
“We urge the government to take immediate steps to prevent and thoroughly investigate these acts objectively and in line with domestic legislation and international human rights commitments. Perpetrators must be held fully accountable,” the experts said as quoted by news agency ANI.
Courts have on occasion misused interpretations of religious law to justify victims remaining with their abusers.
“We are deeply troubled to hear those girls as young as 13 are being kidnapped from their families, trafficked to locations far from their homes, made to marry men sometimes twice their age, and coerced to convert to Islam, all in violation of international human rights law,” according to UN Human Rights Office statement.
The experts deplored the lack of access to justice to the victims in Pakistan and said their families feel the police hardly take them seriously.
Abductors forcefully ask families to sign papers. The courts enable these offences by accepting fraudulent evidence from perpetrators regarding victim’s age, voluntary marriage and conversion, according to reports. The courts have misused the religious law to justify abuse on the victims.
“Abductors force their victims to sign documents, which falsely attest to their being of legal age of marriage and marrying and converting of free will. These documents are cited by the police as evidence that no crime has occurred,” the statement quoted the experts as saying.
The experts suggested that Pakistani authorities adopt and enforce legislation prohibiting forced conversions, child marriages, kidnapping and trafficking, and follow the international human rights laws to uphold the rights of women and children.
Special Rapporteurs and other independent experts are part of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council.
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