UN experts urge Pakistan to protect girls from forced conversion, abduction and child marriage, warning that laws need consistent enforcement and access to justice…reports Asian Lite News Desk
Three United Nations special rapporteurs raised concerns over the alleged abduction, forced conversion and marriage of girls from religious minority communities in Pakistan during a side event of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The event was jointly organised by advocacy groups Jubilee Campaign and the European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ). The UN experts discussed allegations involving Christian girls being kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam and married to Muslim men, according to Morning Star News, a US-based news service covering the persecution of Christians.
The participants included Nicolas Levrat, UN special rapporteur on minority issues; Reem Alsalem, special rapporteur on violence against women and girls; and Katarina Schwarz, the newly appointed special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery and trafficking in persons.
Levrat said Pakistan had international obligations to protect children from forced religious conversion and child marriage. He argued that the problem of impunity could not be addressed simply through new legislation and called for improved access to justice for religious minorities.
Why are UN experts concerned about girls in Pakistan?
Levrat said stronger implementation of existing laws was needed to ensure that victims and their families could obtain justice. A statement issued by Jubilee Campaign USA quoted him as saying that legislation alone would not resolve the issue of forced religious conversions.
Schwarz said child marriage could fall within the definition of slavery and linked the practice to wider patterns of discrimination and exploitation affecting women and girls.
In a virtual statement, she urged Pakistan to provide “robust and effective protection” to children and fulfil its international obligations, Morning Star News reported.
Alsalem highlighted recent legal changes in Pakistan, including the Punjab Child Marriage Restraint Act 2026. The law raised the minimum marriage age to 18 for both boys and girls and made underage marriage a non-bailable offence.
However, she raised concerns about inconsistent enforcement and the pressure reportedly faced by victims and their families to withdraw complaints.
The UN experts’ comments came as families of alleged victims also shared their experiences during the Geneva event.
Among them was the mother of Maria Shahbaz, a 13-year-old Christian girl who disappeared from her home in July last year. Maria later told a court that she had converted to Islam and married Shehryar Ahmad, who was 30 at the time and whom her family alleged had kidnapped her.
A video played during the event showed Maria’s mother describing her concerns about her daughter’s whereabouts.
“We don’t know where they are keeping her,” she said, according to Morning Star News. “We have terrible thoughts about what is happening to her.”
What has the European Parliament said about forced conversion?
The issue has also drawn attention from the European Parliament. In July, it adopted a resolution calling on Pakistan to take steps to end the abduction and forced conversion to Islam of girls from religious minority communities.
Citing United Nations data for 2025, the resolution said Christian girls accounted for nearly 25 per cent of cases involving forced religious conversion through marriage.
Members of the European Parliament called on Pakistan to establish a comprehensive national framework aimed at eliminating child marriage. They also urged the authorities to create a national mechanism to handle complaints from families of girls from minority communities who are allegedly abducted or forcibly converted, according to a report by The Christian Post.
The UN experts’ intervention has renewed calls for Pakistan to ensure that legal protections for children and religious minorities are consistently enforced and that victims and their families can access effective remedies.
