Islamabad – Child Rights’ advocates on Thursday demanded to increase the minimum age of marriage for girls in Pakistan from 16 to 18 years and make the National Identity Card a mandatory document as an evidence of age at the time of marriage during a one-day consultation held at the NCRC secretariat on the “Child Marriage and Child Domestic Labour in Pakistan.”
A statement issued said that participants included officials from the National Commission on the Rights of Child, civil society organisations and legal experts.
Ms. Afshan Tehseen, Chairperson of the NCRC shared that the current laws on child marriages in Pakistan have lacunas with contradictions. The Child Marriages Restraint Act 1929 is still enforced in ICT, KP and Balochistan.
However, Sindh government took the lead with the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013.
One of the challenges highlighted during the consultation was the unavailability of accurate and verified data on child marriages. Maximum number of cases are left unreported and the reporting system is weak. Another issue highlighted was that all religious minority groups perform and register marriages according to their own religious practices, without any consideration given to the age of the child.
It was also added by the experts that the legislation on child labour and child domestic labour must be cross-examined at national and provincial tiers in compliance with Article 25-A and provincial compulsory education laws. The minimum age of admission to employment should be raised to 16 years.
The NCRC and the legal experts agreed that Commission has the mandate to raise the voice for child rights at all levels. This platform must engage with all stakeholders to bring about a positive change in the status of children at both individual and collective levels.
Participants included Ms Afshan Tehseen, Chairperson NCRC, Ms Zahra Naqvi, National Coordinator CRM Pakistan, Shahid Jatoi, SSDO Director Programme, M. Jahangir (advocate), Wajahat Ali (advocate), Sharafat Ali Advocate (Member ICT CP Advisory Board), Ahmar Majeed (lawyer), Syed Miqdad Mehdi (legal expert on child protection issues), and other members of NCRC and civil society representatives.
