Bridging Policy and Practice: Combating Child Marriage in Pakistan under Existing Legal Frameworks
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63062/trt/SG25.085Keywords:
Child Marriages, Human Rights, Legal Framework, Pakistan, Policy ReformsAbstract
In Pakistan, many young girls suffer from the consequences of child marriage, as it harms their rights and fundamental freedoms. The problem worsens because, despite the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929 and the Punjab Amendment Act of 2015, people still wed minor girls due to customs, various religious beliefs, and inaction within the judicial system. In this study, child marriage in Pakistan is considered a child law matter, the obstacles related to child law are discussed, and data are collected from different literature on the subject. The research proved that child marriage is against human rights and takes a toll on a girl's learning, health, and earnings, causing severe risks to her. According to this paper, a solution to eliminate child marriage and increase girls' rights in Pakistan involves strictly following existing policies, carrying out local educational programs, and thinking carefully about making improvements in policies and laws.
References
Ahmad, A. A., Jamil, S., Rizvi, S. Z., & Gwadabe, N. M. (2019). Child marriage, a culturally accepted privilege of orthodoxies: The case of Pakistan. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 8(12). https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarbss/v8-i12/5255
Ahmad, B., Faisal, M., Bano, N., & Akram, H. S. (2025). Legal handling of child marriage as a violation of human rights in Pakistan. Journal for Social Science Archives, 3(1), 404-412. https://doi.org/10.59075/jssa.v3i1.127
Ahmady, K. (2021). An echo of silence: A comprehensive research study on early child marriage (ECM) in Iran. Avaye Buf Publishing.
Ambereen, B., Aziz, L., Khan, A. M., Zulfiqar, T., & Abbas, Z. (2021). Child Marriage: Challenges & Issues in Policy Making and Implementation in Pakistan. İlköğretim Online, 20(6), 433–439. https://ilkogretim-online.org/index.php/pub/article/view/6225
Anam, K. (2024). Prevention of Early Marriage in Building a Problem Family. al-Afkar, Journal For Islamic Studies, 7(3), 1097-1110. https://doi.org/10.31943/afkarjournal.v7i3.1565
Arif, M., Ismail, A., Shaoan, M. M., & Namanyane, T. (2024). Barriers and resilience: The impact of early marriage on girls’ education in Balochistan. Culture, Education, and Future, 2(2), 200-216. https://doi.org/10.70116/2980274129
Ashiq, U., Abbas, N., & Asad, A. Z. (2020). Early marriage in Pakistan: So little done, but so much to do. Journal of Business and Social Review in Emerging Economies, 6(4), 1449-1456. https://doi.org/10.26710/jbsee.v6i4.1469
Charan, I. A., Xin, S., & Soomro, S. (2024). Exploring the child marriage practices and their impact on women's lives in Pakistan: A qualitative analysis. African Journal of Reproductive Health, 28(9), 73-84. https://doi.org/10.29063/ajrh2024/v28i9.7
Egger, M., Higgins, J. P., & Smith, G. D. (Eds.). (2022). Systematic reviews in health research: Meta-analysis in context. John Wily & Sons.
Gan, J., Xie, L., Peng, G., Xie, J., Chen, Y., & Yu, Q. (2021). Systematic review on modification methods of dietary fiber. Food Hydrocolloids, 119, 106872. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2021.106872
Habib, M., Ejaz, L., & Alvi, G. F. (2024). Empowering women’s educational journeys: Navigating challenges in pursuit of higher education in Dera Ghazi Khan. Journal of Development and Social Sciences,5(3), 19-33. https://doi.org/10.47205/jdss.2024(5-III)03
Hiver, P., Al-Hoorie, A. H., Vitta, J. P., & Wu, J. (2021). Engagement in language learning: A systematic review of 20 years of research methods and definitions. Language Teaching Research, 28(1), 201-230. https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688211001289
Javed, R., & Mughal, M. (2020). Girls not brides: Evolution of child marriage in Pakistan. Journal of Public Affairs, 21(3). https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2582
Kakal, T., Kok, M., & Jawad, M. (2023). “You are a child and this is not your business”: Decision-making on child marriage in Sindh, Pakistan. PLOS ONE, 18(9), e0266865. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266865
Karim, A. S., Hassan, B., & Lohana, K. (2019). CHILD MARRIAGE IN PAKISTAN-AN ISSUE OR A MISCONCEPTION: AN ANALYTICAL STUDY IN THE LIGHT OF SCIENCE, PSYCHOLOGY AND RELIGION. Government: Research Journal of Political Science, 8.
Komba, M. M., & Lwoga, E. T. (2020). Systematic review as a research method in library and information science. Advances in Library and Information Science, 80-94. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-1471-9.ch005
Manzoor, S. (2022). An analytical study on early marriage in Pakistan: Impact on education and health. Pakistan Journal of Educational Research, 5(2). https://doi.org/10.52337/pjer.v5i2.515
Nasrullah, M., Muazzam, S., Khosa, F., & Khan, M. M. (2016). Child marriage and women's attitude towards wife beating in a nationally representative sample of currently married adolescent and young women in Pakistan. International Health, 9(1), 20-28. https://doi.org/10.1093/inthealth/ihw047
Nasrullah, M., Zakar, R., & Zakar, M. Z. (2014). Child marriage and its associations with controlling behaviors and spousal violence against adolescent and young women in Pakistan. Journal of Adolescent Health, 55(6), 804-809. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2014.06.013
Naveed, S., & Butt, D. K. M. (2020). Causes and consequences of child marriages in South Asia: Pakistan’s perspective. South Asian Studies, 30(2). http://111.68.103.26//journals/index.php/IJSAS/article/view/3011
Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., Shamseer, L., Tetzlaff, J. M., & Moher, D. (2021). Updating guidance for reporting systematic reviews: Development of the PRISMA 2020 statement. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 134, 103-112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.02.003
Pawson, R., Greenhalgh, T., Harvey, G., & Walshe, K. (2005). Realist review - a new method of systematic review designed for complex policy interventions. Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, 10(1_suppl), 21-34. https://doi.org/10.1258/1355819054308530
Petticrew, M., & Roberts, H. (2006). Systematic reviews in the social sciences: A practical guide. Blackwell Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470754887
Rahi, S. (2017). Research Design and Methods: a Systematic Review of Research Paradigms, Sampling Issues and Instruments Development. International Journal of Economics & Management Sciences, 06(02), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.4172/2162-6359.1000403
Rana, A. A., Hussain, B., & Hussain, Z. (2022). Legal and social review of child marriage in Pakistan: A judicial perspective. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4145917
Ullah, N., Aziz, S., & Idrees, R. (2021). Child Marriages: International Laws and Islamic Laws Perspective. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 11, 60-60. https://doi.org/10.36941/JESR-2021-0051.
UNICEF. (2023). Child marriage in South Asia: Realities, responses and the way forward. United Nations Children's Fund.
Victor, L. (2008). Systematic reviewing in the social sciences: Outcomes and explanation. Enquire, 1(1), 32-46. https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/sociology/documents/enquire/volume-1-issue-1-victor.pdf
Yoosefi-Lebni, J., Solhi, M., Ebadi, F., Farahani, F. K., & Irandoost, S. F. (2023). Exploring the Consequences of Early Marriage: A Conventional Content Analysis. Exploring the Consequences of Early Marriage: A Conventional Content Analysis, 60. https://doi.org/10.1177/00469580231159963
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Muhammad Arslan Abid, Dr. Tansif Ur Rehman, Tahmoor
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
