Daily Times

Pakistan has missed a step to meet the deadline to end child marriage by 2030 as the National Assembly has rejected the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2018. This is not good news for a country that is already not on track to meet its commitments to protect rights of children. Three ministers were opposing the billon religious grounds at the time when it was presented in the National Assembly. The fate of millions of Pakistani children was in the hands of lawmakers, but they pushed them back in the dark era.

We are living in a country where raising voice for human rights is often considered going against Islam or Islamic values. Raising questions on bad cultural practices is practically punishable. People sitting in the policy corridor are being blackmailed at the hands of a few. Political interests eat the dream of a fair and an equal society where everyone has the right to speak and choice. What if a girl child wants to study? What if a girl dreams of a better future? What if a girl is refusing an early marriage?

Repudiation of rights of children by state actors is more treacherous than that of family because a child is the responsibility of the state. If family is unable to protect children than the state comes forward to take care. But practically, the situation is different. The state is responsible to protect, provide and promote child rights.

One of the main ways to protect child rights is legislation, solely the responsibility of parliamentarians. Legislation is a complex process because every word needs a definition and an appropriate rationale. This process becomes more complex when the bills, especially those related to child rights, are referred to the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) for consultation. The CII is a constitutional body that advises the legislature whether or not a certain law is repugnant to Islam, in the context of the Qur’an and Sunna. The CII reviews the proposed bill and makes the necessary recommendations, although it is not binding on parliament to follow the recommendations of the CII. Some shortsighted people used the recommendations of the CII to oppose certain proposed bills. The most recent example is the rejection of the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2018 in the National Assembly.

From independence to date, we fail to determine our legislative patterns. The question arises: were all the recommendations made by the CII in the past adopted by parliament? The answer is no. Parliament has passed bills many times ignoring the recommendations of the CII.

With regard to the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2018, the CII recommended that awareness campaigns against child marriages should initiate. The CII also agreed that a child marriage leads to various negative consequences and problems, and that this practice should not be encouraged. Recognition of early age marriages as a ‘problem’ with negative consequences by the CII is very important for child rights activists.

The second very important point is the lack of census among the PTI leadership on the issue of the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2018. Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari was in favour of the proposed bill, whereas three PTI ministers were opposing it. The position of PTI and PML-N was not clear during the whole process, although some PML-N MNAs were supporting the bill. The ruling party, PTI, completely failed to declare its official position on the matter. The PPP was the only party with a clear position on the issue.

Senator Sherry Rehman presented the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2018 presented in the Senate. The Senate of Pakistan has passed this bill. Overall, the PPP has an excellent record of legislative measures. As in 2014, the Provincial Assembly of Sindh had adopted the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2013, setting the minimum age of 18 for marriage. It was the first ever legislation to set the minimum age of 18.

Child marriage isa universal issue, particularly widespread in South Asia where nearly forty-eight percent of young women are married before the age of eighteen. Girls who marry between the ages of ten and fourteen are five times likely to die during pregnancy. In Pakistan, the sixth largest country in the world by population, twenty-first percent of girls are married before the age of eighteen and three percent before the age of fifteen.

Recognition of early age marriages as a ‘problem’ with negative consequences by the CII is very important for child rights activists

Numerous Muslim majority countries including, Turkey, Egypt, Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates, have banned marriage under the age of eighteen. Of course, they are not ‘bad’ Muslims.

Pakistan has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, which sets the minimum age of marriage at eighteen. During its recent Universal Periodic Review, Pakistan agreed to examine the recommendations to make the minimum age of marriage for women and men eighteen.

Ending child marriages is also one of the core requirements to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Without ending early age marriages, we can’t achieve health, nutrition and education for all. We can’t reduce domestic violence, abuse, poverty, and inequality. Of course, we are reducing opportunities for girls to contribute in the economic development. According to the NGO, Girls Not Brides, Pakistan could raise more than 973 billion rupees in earnings and productivity by ending early age marriages.

Policy makers, especially members of National Assembly, should play a proactive role to ban early age marriages by revisiting their previous decision to make sure that every child should enjoy his/her childhood and should not be subject to ill heath, malnutrition, illiteracy, poverty and violence. Prime Minister Imran Khan should intervene to improve the country’s image on child rights, and to secure lives of children, especially girls from abuse and violence, and to meet the commitments Pakistan has made to end child marriages.

The writer is an Islamabad-based development professional and child rights supporter