The National Commission on Status of Women (NCSW) here Tuesday organized a consultative workshop to aware people of the demerits of underage marriages, and to discuss measures needed to prevent the social practice.

The consultative workshop was held with the cooperation of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), UK Aid and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The provincial caretaker minister for social welfare, Justice (R) Irshad Qaisar attended the event as a chief guest.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister said that a road map would be provided to the next elected government to prevent the occurrence of underage marriages.

She said civil society and welfare organizations should work in liaison and devise a result-oriented plan to stop underage marriages adding that a roadmap would also be provided to authorities to ascertain the age of girls.
Chairperson NCSW, Nelofar Bakhtiar said that the commission is striving to amend the existing law about child marriages and added that the Islamic Ideology Council has been taken into confidence about the issue.

She said that we desire that proper legislation should be made to prevent underage marriages which are increasing day by day due to poverty and ignorance of people about women’s rights. She also handed over a draft of the proposed legislation to the caretaker minister.

Chief Child Protection Unit, Ejaz Khan said that efforts are underway to declare an identity card as a mandatory document for marriage. He informed workshop participants about the perils of underage marriages and said that unit has always taken prompt action on the complaints about child marriages.

Source:  Pakistan Observer