Islamabad, July 29, 2026: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights on Tuesday called for a uniform minimum age for marriage across Pakistan and urged the Ministry of Human Rights to strengthen coordination with relevant institutions to combat social crimes, including rape, harassment, child abuse, drug abuse and begging.
The committee met at Parliament House under the chairpersonship of MNA Asiya Naz Tanoli.
During the meeting, members appreciated the Ministry of Human Rights for successfully hosting the 9th OIC Ministerial Conference on Women in Islamabad, stating that the conference would contribute to promoting women’s socioeconomic empowerment, digital inclusion and political participation.
The committee expressed concern over the different legal minimum ages for marriage across the federation and provinces, directing the Ministry of Human Rights to work with provincial governments to develop a uniform legal framework on the issue.
Members also voiced concern over what they described as the poor performance of ministries and departments responsible for addressing social problems, attributing the situation to inadequate coordination among relevant institutions.
The committee observed that many policies remained confined to documentation without effective implementation at the grassroots level and directed the ministry to establish stronger institutional coordination to tackle rape, harassment, child abuse, drug abuse and begging.
It also instructed the ministry to launch a comprehensive public awareness campaign through the media to inform citizens about the services available through the Ministry of Human Rights and improve public access to those services.
Earlier, officials from the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) and the Child Protection Institute (CPI) briefed the committee on their performance and the challenges facing their institutions.
They requested the committee’s support for increased budgetary allocations and the recruitment of staff against vacant positions to improve institutional capacity and service delivery.
The meeting was attended by MNAs Danyal Chaudhary, Shamsher Ali Mazari, Zeb Jaffar, Tamkeen Akhtar Niazi, Dr. Nelson Azeem, Sehar Kamran, Shahida Rehmani, Naveed Aamir, Sabheen Ghoury (via Zoom) and Syeda Nosheen Iftikhar, along with senior officials of the Ministry of Human Rights and its attached departments.
