Pakistan raises minimum marriage age to 18 for Christians

While the amendment only applies to Pakistani Christians, Church leaders hope this is a first step in ending the plight of child abduction and marriage.

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Catholic leaders in Pakistan are hailing a recently approved amendment to the Christian Marriage Act that raises the minimum age required for marriage – for both boys and girls – to 18 years old. While the amendment only applies to Christians within Pakistan, it is being hailed as a step in the right direction towards the end of child marriage.

According to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), leaders of the Church in Pakistan believe that raising the required age of marriage to that of adulthood will also help end the commonplace practice of abducting young girls – especially from minority communities like the Christians – and forcing them to convert and marry.

Bishop Samson Shukardin, President of the Pakistani Bishops’ Conference, explained in an interview with ACN:

“Often, when girls are abducted, they can easily be married, because they are taken somewhere where the marriageable age is 16, or sometimes the Muslims will say that they are already of marrying age.” Bishop Shukardin lamented, “But we Christians say that they should not be married at all before the age of 18, because they are still children.”

The bishop went on to express that the Christian community of Pakistan feels “a little more peace of mind,” with the passage of the amendment, although he was hesitant to feel as though the problem is solved. He noted that he still expects abductions, forced conversions and marriages to take place, but he believes that the amendment will make it easier to open cases against the abductors.

The next step the Church in Pakistan would like to see is for the new age requirements for marriage to be applied to all Pakistanis, regardless of region or religion. In a statement from the National Commission for Justice and Peace, Catholic leaders thanked the Islamabad Parliament for passing the amendment, noting that the unanimous vote illustrates that it is more than just Christians who see the abduction, forced conversion, and marriage of children is a problem in the nation.