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Church Leaders Applaud Pakistan Amendment Raising Legal Age for Marriage of Christians

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Credit: VIVEK M NARAYANAN/Shutterstock

By Kate Quiñones

Pakistan’s National Assembly has unanimously approved a new amendment raising the minimum legal age for marriage to 18, updating a 19th-century law that permitted the marriage of Christian children.

The Christian Marriage Act of 2024 replaces an 1872 British rule that allowed marriage at 13 for girls and 16 for boys, setting the new age limit at 18 for both genders. This amendment comes in response to numerous incidents of child marriage, kidnapping, and forced conversion in Pakistan, where approximately 19 million women are victims of child marriage, according to 2018 data.

The act was first introduced to the Senate last year by Sen. Kamran Michael and received final approval on July 9, 2024, after being presented to the National Assembly by Naveed Aamir Jeeva, a Christian representative from Punjab province. This legislation applies to Christians in the Islamabad Capital Territory, an area in the northwestern Punjab region surrounding Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.

Local Catholic leaders, including Bishop Samson Shukardin, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, and the National Commission for Justice and Peace, have praised the new law for its role in protecting girls from forced conversions and child marriages, which remain prevalent in Pakistan.

“We extend our sincere appreciation to the entire Parliament for passing this bill unanimously,” read a statement from these organizations, as reported by Vatican News. “This legislation will play a crucial role in protecting our young and minor girls from forced conversions and child marriages. We hope the government will take further steps to criminalize forced religious conversions.”

A study by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) indicates that 1 in 6 young women in Pakistan were married during childhood. The country is home to nearly 19 million women married before the age of 18, with 4.6 million of them married before turning 15.

This amendment is not Pakistan’s first legislative effort against child marriage. In 2013, the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act was passed in Sindh, the second-largest province by population. However, enforcement of these laws is inconsistent, and Sharia law (Islamic law) permits the marriage of girls once they reach “maturity,” often interpreted as after their first menstruation. Islam is the state religion of Pakistan, as stated in the nation’s constitution.

The new amendment aims to reduce the practice of abducting young girls from minority Christian communities and forcing them to convert to Islam and marry older men. Christians and Hindus each make up less than 2% of Pakistan’s population, with Sunni Islam comprising about 83% and Shia Islam about 12% of the population.

This story was first published by Catholic News Agency and has been adapted by EWTN Norway

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