KARACHI (MD/ENN)
On June 11 in Washington, D.C., international human rights organizations—Jubilee Campaign, Coptic Solidarity, and the Yazidi Canadian Association—held a powerful congressional briefing on Capitol Hill, exposing the horrifying scale of forced religious conversions, child marriage, and sexual slavery targeting religious and ethnic minority women and girls in Pakistan, Egypt, and Iraq. The briefing, headlined by USCIRF Chair Dr. Stephen Schneck and featuring Congressmen Jim McGovern and Brad Sherman, called for decisive U.S. action to confront these crimes against humanity.
Joseph Janssen, minority rights advocate and Jubilee Campaign Netherlands representative, delivered a sobering account of what he called a “systemic abuse against girls” in Pakistan.
“Our girls are stolen in the name of Islam and cultural impunity. They are raped, trafficked, and married off as children—and the state looks away.”
Each year, 1,000 to 2,000 Christian and Hindu girls in Pakistan are abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and married under Sharia law, which permits child marriage as young as nine. Judges, police, and state officials collude or turn a blind eye, while perpetrators act with full impunity.
In powerful testimony, Janssen detailed horrifying cases like that of 13-year-old Roshni Shakeel, abducted in March 2024, raped daily, and threatened with being sold to Saudi Arabia. Despite Jubilee Campaign’s legal petitions, three judges rejected her return, citing Sharia law. Her father was jailed when he tried to annul her marriage.
Another case involved Laiba Suhail, kidnapped in February 2024 and kept in a state-run shelter—where her abductor was allowed to take her out at night, chain and abuse her, and return her by morning. Shelter staff reinforced her forced conversion.
Janssen exposed the complicity of state actors:
“I was told by a police officer, ‘Inshallah, this girl will never return to her Christian parents.’ He then threatened to arrest me—for trying to help.”
Janssen stressed that if a 9-, 10-, or 13-year-old girl—or any minor—cannot have a National Identity Card, does not have the right to vote, and cannot open a bank account or travel alone, how can her consent be accepted in court and used to justify sending her to live with a man who intends to abuse her through marriage?
Girls like Ariha Gulzar, Alina Khalid, Saneha Ashar, and Shifa Rafaqat are among many who vanish into this system of state-enabled abuse. Conviction rates are near zero. Courts ignore national laws and uphold child marriages based on religious justification. In May 2025, Pakistan raised the marriage age to 18—but only in the Capital Territory, covering just 1% of the population.
Minority girls are not the only ones erased. Janssen described how ex-Muslims who leave Islam cannot update their religious status in government records. They remain undocumented, unable to marry legally, access healthcare, or send their children to school—living in the shadows to avoid being killed as apostates.
Jubilee Campaign’s Demands to the U.S. Government:
Condition U.S. security and development assistance to Pakistan on verifiable improvements in human rights, under the Leahy Laws and Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act.
Apply visa bans under Section 7031(c) to Pakistani officials—judges, police, and lawmakers—who enable or ignore forced conversions, child marriage, and gender-based violence.
Insist that all forced or underage marriages be declared automatically void, without requiring traumatized girls to go through costly and dangerous court processes.
Demand the inclusion of religious minorities among staff at all state-run women’s shelters, ensuring safe environments free from religious coercion.
Push Pakistan to allow Muslims to legally change their religious status, and end the persecution of apostates living without identity or protection.
“We do not come to you with statistics—we come with the stories of girls who are raped, beaten, sold, and silenced. This is not just a crisis of human rights. It is a test of whether the free world will stand up and act.”
