ISLAMABAD, Jul 29 (APP):The National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights Wednesday called for adopting a uniform minimum marriage age across the country and directed the Ministry of Human Rights to strengthen coordination among relevant ministries and departments to effectively address social issues that are affecting the society. The committee, which met at Parliament House under the chairpersonship of MNA Asiya Naz Tanoli, also appreciated the Ministry of Human Rights …
NA Panel calls for uniform marriage age, stronger coordination to address social issues
ISLAMABAD, Jul 29 (APP):The National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights Wednesday called for adopting a uniform minimum marriage age across the country and directed the Ministry of Human Rights to strengthen coordination among relevant ministries and departments to effectively address social issues that are affecting the society.
The committee, which met at Parliament House under the chairpersonship of MNA Asiya Naz Tanoli, also appreciated the Ministry of Human Rights for successfully organizing the 9th OIC Ministerial Conference on Women in Islamabad, saying the event would contribute to promoting women’s socio-economic empowerment, digital inclusion and political participation.
Expressing concern over different minimum marriage ages prescribed under federal and provincial laws, the committee directed the Ministry of Human Rights to take concrete measures, in consultation with all provinces, to make the marriage age uniform across the country.
The committee also voiced concern over what it described as the poor performance of ministries and departments responsible for addressing social evils, attributing the situation to inadequate coordination among institutions. It observed that many policies remained confined to paper with little implementation at the grassroots level.
The committee directed the Ministry of Human Rights to establish effective coordination among all relevant ministries and departments to curb social issues, including rape, harassment, child abuse, drug abuse and begging. It also asked the ministry to launch a comprehensive media awareness campaign highlighting the services it provides to improve public awareness and enhance institutional performance.
Earlier, officials briefed the committee on the performance of the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) and the Child Protection Institute (CPI), highlighting challenges faced by the organizations. They sought the committee’s support for increased budgetary allocations and recruitment against vacant posts to improve 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), Syeda Nosheen Iftikhar, and senior officials of the Ministry of Human Rights and its attached departments.
