ISLAMABAD: In connection with the Literacy Day, National Commission on Rights of Child on Wednesday holds a discussion with legal experts and the civil society on Child Marriage and Child Domestic Labour.
Child Rights’ Advocates demanded to increase minimum age of marriage for girls in Pakistan from 16 to 18 years and make the National Identity Card a mandatory document as an evidence of age at the time of marriage.
Participants included officials from the National Commission on the Rights of Child, Civil Society Organizations and legal experts.
Afshan Tehseen, Chairperson of the NCRC said that existing laws on child marriages in Pakistan are contradictory and have lacuna.
The Child Marriages Restraint Act 1929 is still enforced in ICT, KP and Baluchistan.
However, Sindh government took the lead with the passing of Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013.
One of the challenges that was highlighted during the consultation was the unavailability of accurate and verified data on child marriages.
Maximum numbers of cases are left unreported and the reporting system is weak.
Another issue that was highlighted that all religious minority groups perform and register marriages according to their own religious practices, without any consideration given to the age of the child.
It was also added by the experts that the legislation on child labour and child domestic labour must be cross-examined at national and provincial tiers in compliance with Article 25-A and provincial compulsory education laws.
The minimum age of admission to employment should be raised to 16 years.
The NCRC and the legal experts agreed that NCRC has the mandate to raise the voice for child rights at all levels. This platform must engage with all stakeholders to bring about a positive change in the status of children at both individual and collective levels.
Participants included Afshan Tehseen, Chairperson NCRC, Zahra Naqvi, National Coordinator CRM Pakistan, Shahid Jatoi- SSDO Director Program, M. Jahangir (Advocate), Wajahat Ali (Advocate), Sharafat Ali Advocate (Member ICT- CP Advisory Board), Ahmar Majeed (Lawyer), Syed Miqdad Mehdi (Legal Expert on Child Protection Issues), and other members of NCRC and civil society representatives