United Nations experts have expressed serious concern over the increasing incidents of kidnapping, forced religious conversion and forced marriage of women and girls from minority communities in Pakistan. He has warned that the environment of impunity is becoming the main reason for continuing this inhumane practice across the country.

Experts clearly stated that any person’s change of religion or belief should be completely free and without any pressure, and marriage can also be considered valid only when there is complete and free consent of both the parties. He also underlined that if the victim is a minor, such consent cannot be legally valid.

According to the report, in the year 2025, about 75 percent of the women and girls who became victims of religious conversion through forced marriage belonged to Hindu religion, while about 25 percent belonged to Christianity. Experts said that about 80 percent of the incidents occurred in Pakistan’s Sindh province, where girls aged 14 to 18 years are especially targeted, while in some cases girls even younger have been involved.

According to experts, the risk increases further for women and girls living in poverty and social marginalization. They face physical and sexual harassment, exploitation, social stigma and deep mental trauma.

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She said, ‘These women and girls live in an environment of constant fear, they are subjected to pressure and their religious freedom and personal autonomy are taken away. This situation should end immediately.

Experts also said that the scale and persistence of these serious human rights violations demonstrate that systemic discrimination exists against non-Muslim women and girls in Pakistan, where they are forced to convert to Islam in order to marry Muslim men.

UN experts have appealed to the Government of Pakistan to take concrete steps to stop incidents of forced religious conversion, calling for raising the minimum age of marriage to 18 years in all provinces and territories, criminalizing forced religious conversion as a separate crime and strictly enforcing laws related to human trafficking and sexual violence.

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Reiterating the recommendations of various UN treaty bodies, the experts said that all allegations should be investigated impartially and effectively and the culprits should be brought to justice. He expressed concern that in many cases, law enforcement agencies ignored complaints from victims’ families, did not conduct timely investigations or prosecutions, and sometimes did not accurately assess the age of the victims.

Additionally, experts called on the Government of Pakistan to provide comprehensive, inclusive and gender-sensitive support services to victims. This should include safe shelter, legal aid, psychological counseling and rehabilitation programs.

Finally, experts warned that the Pakistan government has not yet taken adequate steps to address the root causes of the problem – patriarchal social structure, gender inequality, poverty, social exclusion, discrimination against minorities, religious intolerance and widespread impunity. He stressed, ‘Freedom of religion or belief and equality must be ensured for all without any discrimination.’