Child rights organisation Plan International on Saturday welcomed the UN resolution on ending child marriages and forced marriages describing it as a historic step in protecting the basic human rights of millions of girls.
The resolution was adopted during the 69th session of the General Assembly on Saturday.
The resolution urges all states to enact, enforce and uphold laws and policies aimed at preventing and ending child, early and forced marriage and protecting those at risk. It calls on states to ensure that marriage is entered into only with informed, free and full consent of the intending spouses.
Plan International Pakistan Country Director Rashid Javed said the resolution should boost endeavours for ending child marriages in the country. He appreciated the passage of the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013 early this year and called upon the federal and provincial governments for the promulgation of similar legislation.
He appealed to parents to allow their children the time and opportunity to receive an education. “Children should not be married off at an early age.”
The resolution puts child marriage and girls’ human rights at the heart of development, stressing that child, early and forced marriage hindered achievement of six of the eight millennium development goals.
The resolution was led by Canada and Zambia and co-sponsored by 118 member States.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 23rd, 2014.
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