UN Urge Pak For Action On Coerced Religious Conversions, Forced Marriage

The United Nations on Monday expressed alarm at the spike in the number of abductions, forced marriages, and conversions of minor women from religious minorities in Pakistan and called for immediate efforts to prevent this crime and ensure justice for victims, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement. "We urge the government to take immediate steps to prevent and thoroughly investigate these acts objectively and in line with domestic legislation and international human rights commitments. Perpetrators must be held fully accountable," a statement quoted the experts as saying. "We are deeply troubled to hear those girls as young as 13 are being kidnapped from their families, trafficked to locations far from their homes, made to marry men sometimes twice their age, and coerced to convert to Islam, all in violation of international human rights law," it said. The experts also said that they are concerned that such marriages a…