The report takes into consideration cases of abductions, forced conversions, forced and early marriages of Christian girls and women.
ACN – A report published last December 11, entitled «Conversion without Consent» by the Pakistani NGO Voice for Justice in collaboration with the international NGO Jubilee Campaign, takes into consideration cases of abductions, forced conversions, forced marriages and early marriages of Christian girls and women. It takes into consideration cases of abductions, forced conversions, forced and early marriages of girls and women belonging to the Christian community throughout the country, occurred in the period of time from January 2019 to October 2022, was sent to «Agenzia Fides».
According to the data, the year 2021 recorded 42 cases and showed an increase in the number of cases formally reported in 2019 (there were 27 cases) and 2020 (12 cases). The data shows that the highest number of total cases, 86%, is recorded in Punjab province alone.
Voice for Justice President Joseph Jansen states that «it is common to take advantage of a position of power to incite marginalized people to convert, which amounts to coercion.» The right to religious freedom does not protect against «undue proselytization,» i.e., offering material or social advantages or applying undue pressure to gain new followers, a phenomenon that affects the most vulnerable citizens and girls.
«The phenomenon of forced conversions reveals the failure of the State to implement and enforce existing laws aimed at preventing abductions, early marriages and forced marriages, especially when the victims come from minority religious communities,» he adds. To this end, reports of forced religious conversions should not be abandoned, but a law should be introduced to punish this crime and prevent it, in accordance with human rights standards.
Christians without rights
The report «Conversion without Consent» particularly brings up the cases of some Christian minors such as Zarvia Parvai, Saba Nadeem, Chashman Kanwal and Sunaina James, victims of forced conversions of faith. Zarvia Parvaiz revealed that she had been «drugged, raped, beaten with a stick, burned with cigarettes». Similarly, Saba Nadeem stated that «she was kidnapped and raped, and the assailant took her fingerprint on the marriage and conversion certificate by force against her free will.» These stories testify to the inhumane treatment to which abducted girls and women are subjected, with widespread impunity. The report shows that 61% of girls were abducted before the age of 16, but their age is often falsified to avoid criminal conviction of their abductors.
In Pakistan, «legal and administrative measures are needed to strengthen the rule of law, address human rights violations, fight impunity and guarantee fundamental freedoms for all without discrimination,» says Msgr. Indrias Rehmat, Catholic Bishop of Faisalabad. In the face of recent news cases in which human dignity continues to be violated and fundamental rights abused, the Bishop recalls that «intolerance towards any social group or community harms the whole of society and undermines the universal values of equality and human dignity».
According to data from the Punjab Commission on the Status of Women, there is an overall increase in violence against women: in 2021, 9,734 cases were reported in the province of Punjab, of which 4,598 were rapes, 1,415 cases of domestic violence, 34 acid burns and 197 «honor killing» murders. Violence against women, under the pretext of religious conversions and marriages, continues unchecked and poses a serious threat to the right to religious freedom, the Commission notes.