New Delhi: The United Nations has again raised serious concerns about alleged abduction and forced religious conversion of women and girls from the minorities in Pakistan.
In 2025, nearly 75% of women and girls affected by forced conversion for marriage were Hindu and rest were Christian. Sindh remained the hardest-hit province, accounting for almost 80% of incidents, according to a statement by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) that cited UN experts.
It underlined that girls aged between 14 and 18 were the primary targets, with some victims even younger. Women from economically weaker backgrounds faced higher risk of physical and mental abuse.
“These women and girls endure a continuous sense of terror, face coercion, and are deprived of their freedom of religion or belief and autonomy under patriarchal and political pressures. This must stop,” the experts said, highlighting “systematic discrimination” against non-Muslim women and girls, where they are compelled to convert to Islam to marry Muslim men.
The experts also raised concerns about law enforcement authorities in Pakistan for “dismissing complaints” lodged by the family of victims. Due to the persistent neglect, the agencies failed to investigate such incidents promptly, they said.
The UN experts further urged Islamabad to take urgent action to increase the marriageable age for girls to 18 in all provinces, criminalise forced conversion as a distinct offence and provide additional support to victims, such as safe shelters, legal aid and reintegration programmes.
According to a UNICEF report, Pakistan ranks sixth in levels of child marriage in South Asia, accounting for approximately 19 million child brides, with 18% of girls married before age 18 and nearly 4% before age 15.
In April 2024 too, UN experts had expressed dismay at the systematic lack of protection for young women and girls belonging to minority communities in Pakistan.
“Christian and Hindu girls remain particularly vulnerable to forced religious conversion, abduction, trafficking, child, early, and forced marriage, domestic servitude, and sexual violence. The exposure of young women and girls belonging to religious minority communities to such heinous human rights violations and the impunity of such crimes can no longer be tolerated or justified,” they stated.
Similarly, in January 2023, UN experts urged the government in Islamabad to address the reported increase in abductions, forced marriages and conversions of underage girls and young women from religious minorities.
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2022 UN reportage
In October 2022, the UN had mandated special rapporteur or independent experts on minority issues, freedom of religion or belief, sale and sexual exploitation of children, trafficking, and violence and discrimination against women and girls, among others.
The experts highlighted cases of alleged forced conversion and marriage of members of the Christian and Hindu communities in Pakistan ranging in age from 13 to 20.
In one case involving a 13-year-old, the police allegedly coerced the illiterate family into signing blank papers, which were subsequently filled with false information.
The expert report mentioned that the Lahore High Court determined there was no basis for the claim that the girl was too young to convert to Islam of her own free will, with the presiding judge determining that according to Sharia, the decision to convert to Islam could be undertaken at any age after puberty provided the person converting had sufficient mental capacity.
In another case, a 19-year-old was abducted from her college and forcibly married and forced to convert, said the report. Certificates of conversion and marriage were registered, and the girl recorded a statement asserting she had converted and married of her own free will, it added.
Eight months later, she escaped and recorded her statement in court that she had been abducted and converted forcefully. “She attested that she had only made her previous statement professing to have married and converted to Islam of her own free will under duress (and threats) to kill her and her family,” the report stated.
Special Rapporteur Tomoya Obokata and others warned of “rampant impunity”, while noting that security forces often act as accomplices. They urged Pakistan to raise the minimum marriage age to 18 to halt this “grave human rights violation”.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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