Kevin D. Carignan 
Shabana was 14 when she married Yousaf, her 24-year-old cousin. She was a student in class 8, at a school in Shahdara, Lahore. But she dropped out of school to move into her husband’s house.
Too young to face the challenges of married life, Shabana was often the victim of domestic violence. In the meantime, she became the mother of a very young daughter. During her pregnancy, she did not receive adequate food or good care from her in-laws. She herself was not mature enough to take care of herself, and her health was deteriorating day by day.
Eventually, her husband divorced her and took custody of their daughter, breaking up their family. Today, Shabana herself lives with her parents in difficult conditions. She is not educated enough to find a good job and support herself.
The issue of child marriage has always plagued our society. It tends to occur among the most marginalized and vulnerable communities in the country. While boys and girls are married off early in many parts of Pakistan, more girls fall victim to this age-old custom. The practice stems largely from the prevalence of gender inequality in society and patriarchal cultural norms, and it is further perpetuated due to weak legislation.
In 2020, 119 cases of child marriage were reported in the country, of which 95% were girls and 5% boys, according to a report by Sahil, an Islamabad-based non-governmental organization that works for child protection. .
Child marriage is a serious threat to the lives and prospects of young girls. It robs them of their childhood, jeopardizes their health and limits their opportunities. How can the state and society recognize this tradition as a crime and protect young girls from it?
According to the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) 2017-2018, 3.6% of girls under the age of 15 are married while 18.3% of married girls are under the age of 18. However, Unicef reports that 21% of Pakistani girls are married by the age of 18 and three percent before the age of 15. Another report by the international agency claims that Pakistan has the sixth highest number of child brides in the world.
Birth registration and social issues
At thirteen and a half, Shama ran away with her guardian Asif. After the ninth grader disappeared, his parents contacted the police to register a case. They provided the court with all the necessary documents, including their teenage daughter’s birth certificate and school certificate, which proved that Shama was a child under the legal age of marriage.
But the police manipulated the case for Asif’s benefit while collecting evidence. Asif presented another birth certificate, which stated that Shama was 18 years old. The Court of Sessions decided the case in favor of Asif, he was released on bail and started living with his newlywed.
An ineffective birth registration system contributes significantly to the incidence of child marriage. Birth registration, especially of girls, is never a priority. This creates room for manipulation of a girl’s age at marriage. In fighting Shama’s case, her parents suffered at the hands of a weak justice system, poor law enforcement and collusion by corrupt police officers as well as an ineffective birth registration system.
In Pakistan, there are various other causes of child marriage, the most prevalent being weak legislation and lack of political will to ensure the implementation of existing laws. The public is poorly aware of the harmful effects of child marriage, especially within tribal and feudal societal structures, extreme poverty and illiteracy. Religious beliefs also allow this tradition. Moreover, child marriage often coincides problematically with conversion from religion. Mostly, Hindu girls from Sindh and Christian women from Punjab are forcibly married to older Muslim men after forced conversions.
Child marriage is a form of sexual abuse in which the child is assaulted and robbed of their childhood. It affects the psychological well-being and the intellectual, personal and social development of the child. Girls who marry are more likely to drop out of school than other girls. If we look at our gender parity index in Pakistan, only 87% of girls are enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys (this number drops to 56% for the former Fata region).
The earlier girls are married off, the more children they tend to have, which contributes to overcrowding. Young brides face greater pregnancy-related health risks and their babies are more likely to have health problems. The high rates of maternal and child mortality in Pakistan are closely linked to early marriage. Young girls are more likely to face domestic violence than women who marry later. Additionally, child marriage leads to poverty when it limits the earning capacity of girls due to school dropout in many cases.
Consent is the basic principle of marriage, in which both people must be able to independently accept or refuse according to their free will. Does a child’s consent constitute informed consent? Is a child intellectually mature enough to make a wise decision and be able to take care of himself, let alone a family?
Protect our children
Consent is the basic principle of marriage, in which both people must be able to independently accept or refuse according to their free will. Does a child’s consent constitute informed consent? Is a child intellectually mature enough to make a wise decision and be able to take care of himself, let alone a family?
Marriage is a lifelong contract, and a child who does not even understand what a contract is cannot be expected to choose their life partner. When a child is not authorized to hold a National Computerized Identity Card (CNIC), cannot obtain his driver’s license, cannot vote, cannot sign any other contract, how can he sign a marriage contract?
Currently, federal law is based on a law passed in 1929, where the age limit for marriage was 14 and older. It was increased to 16 by the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961. Current law sets the legal age of marriage at 16 for girls and 18 for boys, setting different and therefore discriminatory marriage ages for girls and boys.
After 2010, preventing child marriage became a provincial topic. Sindh is the only province so far to have passed a law prohibiting marriage before the age of 18. In Sindh, the Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013 makes underage marriage a recognizable, non-aggravated offence. This means that the police can take action on their own to arrest offenders based on any information, and no private conciliation agreement can be made between families, communities or jirgas to circumvent the law.
The Punjab Marriage Restrictions (Amendment) Act 2015 still allows girls to marry at 16. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan continue to be governed by the 1929 law, as federal law.
Pakistan ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990; it defines a child as “every human being under the age of 18, unless under applicable law majority is attained earlier”.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its concluding observations and recommendations on Pakistan’s fifth periodic report in 2016, notes that there is a difference between the minimum legal age for marriage for boys (18 ) and that of girls (16 years old). years). Therefore, the committee recommended Pakistan “complete harmonization of its legislation regarding the definition of a child to define a child as any human being under the age of 18 years”.
In particular, it recommends that the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 be amended to align the age of marriage for boys and girls by raising the minimum age of marriage for girls to 18.
The Pakistani government faces a number of major rights challenges, and girls’ rights must also be prioritized. As part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), countries around the world, including Pakistan, have pledged to end marriages before the age of 18 by 2030. To save the children child marriages, legislation across the country must enforce restraint, whether federal or provincial territories.
Empowered local government bodies must be in place to ensure that legal guarantees are implemented in letter and spirit. During the legislative process, Pakistan should not use religion or custom to send the law for consultation to any council or body outside parliament. For stronger implementation, provision of CNIC should be made mandatory for marriage registration.
A national campaign can also help raise awareness of the harmful effects of child marriage. National human rights institutions, such as the National Commission on the Rights of the Child, should take cognizance of the problem and come up with appropriate policy recommendations. To combat child marriage, the education of every child is essential. Implementing support programs can help empower at-risk girls. Girls’ access to supported educational choices should be improved and they should be sent to school instead of being tied down in marriage. This will help our younger generations live healthier and freer lives in a more prosperous country.
The writer is a human rights activist and columnist. She is a member of the executive body of the Child Rights Movement Punjab. She tweets @NabilaFBhatti
Posted in Dawn, EOS, February 20, 2022
