Pakistan enforces law making child marriages illegal

Background of the new law

According to UNICEF’s report, unfortunately, there are nearly 19 million young brides, of which five million were married before age 15 in Pakistan.

UN Women’s research on ‘Costing Study on Child Marriage in Pakistan’ in 2021 shows the main drivers of this harmful pattern are poverty, normative pressures, and social practices.

We also know that several cases have been reported in the media, showing climate change has become another factor contributing to early-age marriages. Based on France 24’s article, a 13-year-old girl from Pakistan was forced to get married after her family lost their land in the flood.

Early unions put girls at risk of not completing their education and leaves them potentially vulnerable to domestic violence and health problems, according to the same report by UN Women. 

Rightly, banning child marriages has long been legislative priority in the country. 50-year-old Pakistani Senator Naseema Ehsan shared her own experience of being forced to marry at the age of 13 during the debates, explaining that she faced several complications during pregnancy and that her doctor told her it was because she was still so young – effectively, a child.

The new law mainly aims to protect future generations of women from being forced into early marriages and early motherhood. Although opposition has been present in parliament, mainly suggesting the law is folding to Western values, the voices supporting Pakistan’s new step have been far louder both inside and outside the country.

No voice has been louder than Jamshed Kazi, Pakistan’s representative for UN Women. She recently told The Guardian: ‘It’s a moment of hope in an increasingly gloomy landscape for women’s rights.’

The law alone is not enough to change internalized patterns, but it has begun a systemic revolution. With around 650 million women and girls alive today who have been subjected to forced underage marriage, this law creates hope for mothers and daughters throughout the region.