child marriage

SPARC State of Pakistan’s Children Report

“State of Children Report” is an annual publication produced by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC), a non-governmental organization based in Pakistan. The report provides information on the situation of children in the country, covering various aspects such as health, education, violence against children, juvenile justice system, etc. The report is widely cited by…

Child Marriages – A Vicious Cycle of Poverty and Abuse

KARACHI: Despite being illegal, child marriages continue to affect millions of young lives, perpetuating cycles of poverty, gender bias, and inequality. According to a study, 18 percent of girls in Pakistan get married before the age of 18, leading to severe consequences on their health, education, and overall well-being. This…

Policy Brief on the Legal Framework for Child Marriage in Pakistan

Child marriage is a significant issue in Pakistan, where according to the…

Diagnostic Study of Nikkahnamas in Punjab

This report is a comprehensive research study, conducted by the Centre for…

Abducted Girl Rescued

LAHORE: The Investigations police rescued a 16-year-old girl from Rahim Yar Khan, who had been abducted under the pretext of marriage. The suspected kidnapper was arrested. The suspect, identified as Muhammad Tariq, had lured the girl with a false promise of marriage. As she left her home, she took Rs800,000…

Babies Galore

OURS is a society where parents start planning their daughter’s marriage soon after she is born. Here the social compulsion for couples to prove their fertility is so great that they have their first child within a year or so after tying the knot. Worse still, women are desperate to…

Climate-driven Child Marriages

The prevalence of child marriages in certain parts of Pakistan, as exemplified by the recent reports of 45 underage girls being married off in Khan Muhammad Mallah village of Dadu in Sindh province, is utterly unacceptable. The directive issued by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to launch a thorough investigation…

Monsoon Brides: Extreme Weather Fuels Child Marriages In Pakistan

DADU: As monsoon rains loomed over Pakistan, 14-year-old Shamila and her 13-year-old sister Amina were married off in exchange for money—a decision their parents made to help the family survive the impending threat of floods. “I was happy to hear I was getting married… I thought my life would become…

NCRC, Scholars Address Child Marriage, Birth Registration

Islamabad: NCRC Pakistan, convened 3rd meeting of its Working Group of Religious Scholars. Agenda for the meeting was to initiate a dialogue on crucial issues like Child Marriage and Birth Registration among the religious leaders/scholars and to present research being conducted by NCRC in collaboration with UNICEF Pakistan and Oxford…

NCSW, Unicef Launch Campaign Against Child Marriage

ISLAMABAD: The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) on 29 July hosted the launch of the ‘Bolo (Speak Out) Child Marriage Communication Campaign’ with its consortium partners Unicef, UNFPA, and UN Women. This event, which aimed at raising the minimum age of marriage to 18 across the country,…

The Unfortunate Trend Of Child Marriage

Child Marriage, one of the unfortunate and rampant trends, takes place in several parts of the country despite being prohibited under the relevant laws. Child marriage is a serious violation of children’s rights, something that ensures gender inequality. Young girls, in particular, are denied to enjoy their rights to education…

Christians’ Marriage Age Bar Raised To 18

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on 22 July signed into law the Christian Marriage (Amendment) Act 2024, raising the minimum age for Christian men and women to eighteen years. The president accorded assent to the Act under Article 75 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan during a…

Parents Get Permanent Custody Of Teenage Girl

A family court has awarded permanent custody of a teenage girl who was reported kidnapped from Karachi in April 2022 but was later found to have purportedly contracted freewill marriage in Lahore, to her parents. Judge Salamat Ali Soomro granted an application filed by the girl’s parents — Syed Mehdi…

Child Marriage Plagues Minor Girls

The rocky years of adolescence are rarely a smooth sail for budding adults, with sudden physical, emotional, and psychological changes taking a huge toll on their overall wellbeing. While an awkward pimple or emotional breakdown might exhaust an average teenager coping with the upsetting effects of puberty, for minor girls…