Women’s rights: Activists put their heads together to fight forced marriages

“No measures had been taken by the state to ensure that marriages are consensual", says a representative of Action Aid

PESHAWAR:

Poverty, illiteracy and repressive family customs are increasing child marriages in society, said Awami National Party MPA Munawara Farman at a meeting with non-governmental organisations. 

Farman, who has also moved a bill on child marriages, was speaking to members of Action Aid Pakistan, Blue Veins and Citizen Rights and Sustainable Development among other civil society members on Sunday.

Pakistan ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Child in 1990, which prohibits child marriages, said Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Shahzia Tehmas. Additionally, according to the Muslim Family Law Ordinance, a girl must be at least 16 years of age and must have consented before she can be married.

A representative of Action Aid, Aliya, said that no measures had been taken by the state to ensure that marriages are consensual.

Program Coordinator of Blue Veins, Qamar Naseem, said that according to international estimates more than 60 million women between the ages of 20 and 24 are married before the age of 18.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2012.