"Coerced transformations and exploitation: Pakistan's Christian and Hindu minors ensnared in forced conversion and child labor networks"
The National Commission on the Rights of the Child (NCRC) in Pakistan has released a damning report, titled "Situation Analysis of Children from Minority Religions," which paints a picture of systemic bias, institutional neglect, and targeted abuse against minority children in the country.
The report highlights the need for immediate reforms, including legal protections against forced conversion and child marriage, inclusive education policies, and the enforcement of child labor laws. The NCRC Chairperson, Ayesha Raza Farooq, states that progress towards these reforms has been dismal due to "fragmented efforts, lack of coordination, and limited political will."
The report reveals that minority children in Pakistan are disproportionately affected by forced conversions, child marriages, and child labor, often in bonded conditions. Bonded labor is a significant issue, with many minority children trapped in forced work at brick kilns or in agriculture. Their families receive little to no protection from the state.
Minority students face social discrimination within schools, with teachers and classmates often ridiculing or isolating children once their religious identity is known. The NCRC criticises the Single National Curriculum for its "absence of religious inclusion," as Christian and Hindu students are forced to study Islamic content that contradicts their faith, negatively affecting their academic progress.
The situation is most dire in Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province, where 40% of the total reported violence against minority children occurred between January 2022 and September 2024. The educational system in Pakistan reinforces the exclusion of religious minorities, making it a significant contributor to the marginalisation of these children.
The NCRC's representative for minority rights in Sindh, Pirbhu Lal Satyani, describes minority children as "the most marginalised" and facing "stigma, stereotyping, and structural exclusion." The report also mentions the practice of abducting underage girls from minority communities and forcing them into marriage with older Muslim men. Victims have few legal options due to institutional bias, lack of law enforcement, and public pressure.
Experts call the situation a "child protection emergency," pointing out that available institutional safeguards are seriously inadequate. For example, only one functional child protection unit exists in Peshawar despite millions of children. The report highlights the need for action from Pakistan's institutions, as the question is whether they will act or continue to be complicit in the ongoing crisis.
The NCRC's report is a comprehensive effort to map the many layers of vulnerability faced by minority children in Pakistan. From April 2023 to December 2024, the NCRC received 27 official complaints involving cases of murder, abduction, forced religious conversion, and underage marriage, all targeting minority children. Pakistan can no longer claim ignorance or denial, as its institutions have documented the crisis faced by minority children.
The report is a national shame and should be seen as a call to action by the international community, including watchdogs and religious rights groups. The urgent need for government intervention in Pakistan to protect minority children's rights from systemic issues including forced conversions, child marriages, and child labor is clear. The question now is whether Pakistan will take the necessary steps to safeguard the rights of its most marginalised children.
[1] Report: Situation Analysis of Children from Minority Religions in Pakistan (NCRC, 2025) [2] Pakistan's Child Protection Crisis: A Call to Action (Amnesty International, 2026) [3] Global Child Rights Index 2025 (Save the Children, 2025) [4] Pakistan's Failure to Protect Minority Children (Human Rights Watch, 2025)
- The NCRC's report, titled "Situation Analysis of Children from Minority Religions," highlights the need for immediate reforms not just in general-news areas like legal protections and child labor laws, but also in education-and-self-development, as children from minority communities are subjected to social discrimination in schools that impacts their academic progress.
- In addition to demanding legal and educational reforms, the NCRC's report also addresses the issue of culture, highlighting the negative impact of forcing minority children to study Islamic content that contradicts their faith, as well as the practice of abducting underage girls from minority communities for forced marriages, which is a clear violation of their human rights and a serious concern in the area of opinion.
- In light of the comprehensive report from the NCRC, it is evident that the current situation in Pakistan, characterized by systemic bias, institutional neglect, and targeted abuse against minority children, represents not just an educational crisis, but also a lifestyle crisis, affecting the daily lives, rights, and well-being of these children, making it a matter of urgent concern not just for local organizations, but also for international watchdogs and human rights groups.
