Forced Marriage in Pakistan: Girls as Young as 13 Forced to Marry

13 min read

Last updated: 8 July 2026

Photo: Walking to Marriage - Tela Chhe

Pakistan forced marriage is one of the most serious women's rights issues in South Asia. UNICEF reports that 18% of girls in Pakistan marry before the age of 18. Some are as young as 13. Many are forced to marry without any real choice. Forced marriage in Pakistan takes many forms. It can be a swap of girls between two families to settle a fight (vani). It can be a brother-sister exchange (watta-satta). It can be cousin marriage decided at birth. Or it can be the kidnap, forced conversion, and forced marriage of a Hindu or Christian girl.

This report explains how Pakistan forced marriage works, why the law fails to stop it, and what it means for asylum claims. The report uses data from UNICEF, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Human Rights Watch, and CEDAW. For more on women's rights in the region, see our country reports. For asylum guidance, see our asylum guide. For wider human rights coverage, see related reports on Pakistan and South Asia.

Pakistan Forced Marriage: An Overview

Pakistan forced marriage is widespread. Pakistan has the sixth-highest absolute number of child brides in the world. UNICEF estimates 18.9 million current and former child brides live in Pakistan. The most common age of forced marriage is between 14 and 17. But cases of girls aged 12 or 13 happen often. In some rural areas, brides as young as 9 or 10 have been documented when used to settle a debt or feud.[1]

"Forced" means the girl or woman did not give free and full consent. Sometimes she says "yes" because the family will beat her, kill her, or throw her out if she says "no." That counts as forced marriage under international law (CEDAW Article 16(2); Convention on Consent to Marriage 1962). The mother often has no power to refuse. Even mothers who themselves were child brides may push their daughters to marry young because they fear the alternative — a daughter alone is seen as unsafe.[2]

Pakistan forced marriage cuts across all four provinces, but the rate is higher in rural Sindh, southern Punjab, Balochistan, and the former tribal areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). Educated urban families generally do not force young marriage, but some still arrange cousin marriages without proper consent. The HRCP says about 21% of all marriages in Pakistan involve some form of force or pressure on at least one party.[3]

Forms of Pakistan Forced Marriage

Pakistan forced marriage takes several traditional forms. Understanding these forms helps lawyers and judges assess asylum claims. It also helps NGOs and police identify victims. Below are the most common categories used by HRCP, HRW, and the UN.

Vani (Swara, Sang Chatti)

Vani is a tribal practice where a girl is given to another family as compensation for a crime committed by her male relative. If a man kills someone, his sister or daughter may be handed over to the victim's family as a bride. The girl is often a child. She may be 5 or 6 years old when promised, and 10-12 when handed over. Vani is illegal under Penal Code section 310-A (added in 2011, sentence 3 to 7 years). However, prosecution is rare. Tribal jirgas continue to order vani.[4]

Watta-Satta (Exchange Marriage)

Watta-satta means "give-take." A brother and sister from one family marry a sister and brother from another family. Both couples are linked. If one marriage breaks down, both do. This means a wife who is beaten cannot leave because her brother's wife will be sent back too. Watta-satta is common in rural Punjab and Sindh. About one-third of marriages in some districts are watta-satta. Refusal can lead to honour killing.[5]

Cousin Marriage

About 60% of marriages in Pakistan are between cousins. Most cousin marriages are not forced. But many are arranged at birth. The girl has no chance to refuse later without bringing shame on the family. This is "forced" within the international definition because the consent is not free. Cousin marriage is legal everywhere in Pakistan and supported by family pressure.[6]

Forced Conversion of Hindu and Christian Girls

This is the most violent form of Pakistan forced marriage. Each year, more than 1,000 Hindu and Christian girls and young women are kidnapped in Sindh and southern Punjab. They are forced to convert to Islam and forced into marriage with their kidnapper. The pattern is: kidnap, hold for days, force conversion before a local cleric, force "marriage" (nikah), then present to the police as a willing convert. Once converted, the girl cannot legally return to her Hindu or Christian family.[7]

Bar Chart: Child Marriage Rates by Province

Pakistan forced marriage rates differ a lot by province. Sindh has the highest official rate of girls married before 18. The Punjab Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) and the Sindh Demographic Health Survey both confirm this. Balochistan also has high rates, but data is limited because of weak survey coverage. The chart below shows the share of women aged 20-24 who were married before 18.

Table: Forms of Pakistan Forced Marriage

The table below summarises the main types of Pakistan forced marriage. It shows where each form is most common and what the law says. Many of these forms are technically illegal but rarely punished.

Legal Framework: Why Pakistan Law Fails

Pakistan has laws against child and forced marriage on paper. The Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 sets the legal age at 16 for girls and 18 for boys. The penalty is one month in prison or a fine of 1,000 rupees (about $4). The Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013 raised the age to 18 for both. It also raised the penalty. Federal proposals to raise the age to 18 nationally have been blocked by the Council of Islamic Ideology since 2014.[8]

The Prevention of Anti-Women Practices Act 2011 added Penal Code section 310-A. This made vani (giving women in marriage to settle disputes) a crime. But prosecutions are rare. Police often refuse to register cases. Tribal elders who order vani are rarely arrested. Even when prosecuted, the punishment is light compared to murder.[9]

The Lahore High Court has sometimes upheld child marriages on the basis of Islamic law. In 2014, the court ruled that puberty (not age) determined when a girl could marry. This decision was widely criticized. Similar rulings have been issued by other courts. The result is that the legal age of marriage varies by court and judge.[10]

Forced Conversion of Hindu and Christian Girls

Forced conversion is the most severe form of Pakistan forced marriage. The Movement for Solidarity and Peace (Pakistan) reports about 1,000 cases per year. Most cases happen in Sindh, where most Pakistani Hindus live. The pattern is well-documented. A man, often older and married, identifies a young girl from a Hindu or Christian family. He arranges to kidnap her with help from local gangs. She is held for days, threatened, and sometimes raped. A local cleric performs the conversion and the nikah on the same day.[11]

When the family reports the kidnap, police often refuse to register a First Information Report (FIR). They say the girl converted "freely." The girl, under threat, is brought before a magistrate to confirm consent. If she says "I want to go home," her family is killed. If she says "I converted freely," the marriage stands and she cannot leave. The Sindh Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Bill 2016 was meant to ban forced conversion, but the Sindh Assembly has not passed it because of religious party pressure.[12]

Police Response and Court Rulings

The police response to Pakistan forced marriage cases is poor. HRCP reports show that police treat forced marriage as a "family matter." They often send the woman back to the family that forced her. Some police officers take bribes from the family to drop cases. The "second wife" or unwilling bride has no real protection from the state.[13]

Courts are split. Some Lahore High Court rulings have held that a girl who has reached puberty can marry at any age. Other Sindh High Court rulings have upheld the 18-year age limit under the Sindh law of 2013. The Federal Shariat Court has held that any age limit above puberty is "un-Islamic." This split means asylum officers cannot rely on Pakistani courts to protect a girl forced to marry.[14]

Forced marriages of women and girls remained widespread in Pakistan, including the abduction, forced conversion to Islam, and forced marriage of women and girls from religious minorities. The government did not adequately protect victims or prosecute perpetrators.
Human Rights Watch, World Report 2024 — Pakistan

Why Escape Is Almost Impossible

For most Pakistani girls and women, escape from forced marriage is not realistic. There are very few state-run shelters (Dar-ul-Aman). The shelters that exist are overcrowded and not safe. Women in shelters are often visited by family members who pressure or threaten them. Some shelters return women to their families to avoid trouble.[15]

Internal relocation is impossible. The biradari (extended family network) reaches across all provinces. The CNIC identity system run by NADRA tracks every adult. Renting a flat, opening a bank account, getting a SIM card, or sending a child to school all need a CNIC. Family members can track a missing daughter through her CNIC use.[16]

Honour violence makes escape even more dangerous. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan documents about 1,000 honour killings each year. The real number may be much higher. A woman who runs from a forced marriage faces a real risk of being killed by her brother, father, uncle, or cousin. The state offers very weak protection. No woman has ever received a witness protection programme in Pakistan.[17]

Implications for Asylum Claims

A Pakistani woman or girl who has fled forced marriage usually has a strong asylum claim. The 1951 Refugee Convention recognises persecution on grounds of "membership in a particular social group" (PSG). Women in Pakistan who refuse forced marriage form a PSG under UK and EU case law. Forced conversion adds the "religion" ground. Honour violence adds the "imputed political opinion" ground (the family sees refusal as a political act against tradition).[18]

UK Country Guidance in SM (lone women - ostracism) Pakistan CG [2016] UKUT 67 (IAC) recognises that Pakistani women without male family support face a real risk of harm. Internal relocation is generally not safe. The UK Home Office Country Policy and Information Note on Pakistani women fearing gender-based violence (2024) supports such claims. CEDAW Committee findings against Pakistan also help.[19]

For lawyers preparing such claims, expert evidence is often decisive. A country expert can confirm that a particular tribe, family, or village has a history of vani or honour killing. Expert witnesses familiar with Pakistan can show why the police, courts, and shelters cannot protect the woman. Without such evidence, claims are sometimes refused as "private family disputes." With expert evidence, the success rate goes up sharply.

Conclusion: Pakistan Forced Marriage as a Refugee Issue

Pakistan forced marriage is a serious and well-documented human rights problem. Eighteen percent of Pakistani girls marry before 18. Many are forced into vani, watta-satta, or forced conversion. The state cannot or will not protect them. Tribal customs, weak laws, court splits, and family networks combine to trap women in unwanted marriages. Honour violence makes escape life-threatening.

For asylum decision-makers, every claim from a Pakistani woman or girl fleeing forced marriage must be assessed with care. The evidence from UNICEF, HRCP, HRW, CEDAW, and UK case law supports such claims. Pakistan forced marriage is not a private matter — it is a pattern of state-tolerated persecution of women. Asylum protection is the right response. Deportation often means return to the family or the husband — and to renewed risk of harm or death.

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