The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan joined other Christians in welcoming the final approval of a new law that will raise the marriage age to 18 to protect Christian minors from forced marriage.
Lisa Zengarini
Christian leaders in Pakistan have welcomed the final passage of a new law raising the minimum marriage age for Christian men and women to 18.
The new bill, which amends the Christian Marriage Act of 1872, was passed by the Senate a few months ago and was approved unanimously by the National Assembly this week.
Under previous laws dating back to the days of British rule in India, girls could marry from the age of 13 and boys from 16.
Protecting Christian Girls from Forced Marriage
Pakistani Christians have long called for the change to protect girls in particular from sexual abuse and forced child marriage, which are often linked to abductions aimed at forced conversion.
Samson Shukaruddin, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan (CBCP), along with other Christians along with the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP), expressed happiness over the final approval of the bill.
“We sincerely thank the entire Parliament for unanimously passing this bill,” they said in a statement. “This legislation will play an important role in protecting young underage girls from forced religious conversion and child marriage. We hope that the government will take further steps to criminalize forced religious conversion,” the statement continued.
New Christian Marriage Law
The new Christian Marriage Law requires that marriages “shall be solemnized and registered only when both parties have attained the age of 18 years.”
It further provides that in case of a dispute regarding the age of the contracting parties, the court shall determine the age based on the computerized national identity card, birth certificate, education certificate or other relevant documents. In the absence of these documents, the age may be determined based on the medical examination report.
