Three United Nations special rapporteurs have called on Pakistan to take urgent action against the kidnapping, forced religious conversion, and child marriage of girls, warning that existing laws remain largely ineffective without consistent enforcement and guaranteed access to justice. The appeal was made on 6 October 2026 at a side event of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, co-organised by advocacy groups Jubilee Campaign and the European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ).

Who Spoke and What They Said

Nicolas Levrat, UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, stated that Pakistan is obligated under international law to protect children from forced religious conversion and child marriage. He argued that impunity in such cases cannot be resolved through new legislation alone, and stressed that religious minorities must be guaranteed meaningful access to justice. Katarina Schwarz, the newly appointed Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery and Trafficking in Persons, said in a virtual address that child marriage can constitute a form of slavery, adding that exploitation thrives in environments where discrimination against women and girls persists. She urged Pakistan to provide 'robust and effective protection' to fulfil its international obligations.

Legal Reforms Noted, but Implementation Questioned

Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls, acknowledged recent legislative steps, including Punjab's Child Marriage Restraint Act 2026, which raised the minimum marriage age to 18 years for both boys and girls and classified underage marriage as a non-bailable offence. However, she voiced serious concern over the inconsistent implementation of such laws, noting the pressure frequently exerted on victims and their families to withdraw complaints — a pattern that experts say effectively nullifies legal protections on paper.

Victim Families Share Their Ordeal

The Geneva event also heard directly from families of affected victims. The mother of Maria Shahbaz, a 13-year-old Christian girl who disappeared from her home in July 2025, spoke about her anguish. Maria reportedly told a court she had willingly converted to Islam and married her alleged kidnapper, Shehryar Ahmad, aged 30. In a video played at the event, her mother said: 'We don't know where they are keeping her,' adding, 'We have terrible thoughts about what is happening to her.' The case has become emblematic of a broader pattern that advocacy groups say is systemic and underreported.

European Parliament Has Also Weighed In

In July 2026, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on Pakistani authorities to end the abduction and forced conversion to Islam of girls from religious minority communities. Citing UN data for 2025, the resolution noted that Christian girls account for nearly 25% of all cases involving forced religious conversion through marriage. The Parliament also urged Pakistan to establish a comprehensive national framework to eliminate child marriage and create a dedicated national mechanism for handling complaints from families of abducted or forcibly converted minority girls.

What Comes Next

The UN experts stopped short of prescribing a specific legislative timeline but made clear that accountability — not new statute books — is the missing element. With the UNHRC session ongoing in Geneva and the European Parliament resolution on record, international scrutiny of Pakistan's record on minority girls' rights is at one of its highest points in recent years. Whether Islamabad translates that pressure into enforceable action remains to be seen.