• Experts seek details on child brides, rehabilitation of flood victims and reconstruction efforts
• Pakistani delegation says 600,000 destroyed homes rebuilt
ISLAMABAD: The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on Wednesday concluded its review of Pakistan’s second periodic report under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, welcoming the country’s 2025 legal amendment raising the minimum age of marriage to 18.
However, committee members raised questions about bonded labour and reconstruction efforts following the 2022 and 2025 floods, among other topics.
Committee expert and member of the task force for Pakistan, Michael Windfuhr, welcomed the 2025 amendment to the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929, which raised the minimum age of marriage to 18 for both males and females.
However, he noted that the committee remained concerned about the high number of child brides and asked about the impact of measures taken to prevent child marriage.
Lazhari Bouzid, another committee expert and member of the task force for Pakistan, said bonded labour continued to be prevalent in agriculture and was also found in the informal sector, particularly brick making.
Construction companies and government agencies were reportedly complicit in the practice by purchasing bricks produced through debt bondage. He asked how Pakistan had responded to these reports.
Mr Windfuhr also asked how the country had coped with the impact of the devastating floods in 2022 and 2025. He inquired whether Pakistan could rebuild housing for affected people and restore their access to land or resources, and how many people remained displaced.
‘Range of measures’
Minister of State for Law and Justice and head of the delegation, Barrister Aqeel Malik, said in his opening remarks that Pakistan had taken a range of legislative, policy and institutional measures since 2017 for the progressive realisation of covenant rights.
He said child marriage restraint laws had set the minimum age of marriage at 18 for both boys and girls in Islamabad, Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh, and criminalised child, early and forced marriages.
During the ensuing dialogue, the delegation said Pakistan’s Constitution prohibited slavery and all forms of forced labour, while the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1992 had abolished the practice.
Punjab had documented more than 210,000 kiln workers, and district vigilance committees had been established in many districts. Labour inspectors had identified more than 2,900 victims of forced labour last year.
On flood recovery, the delegation said the government had established a national emergency operations centre focusing on high-risk areas and launched a national flood protection programme. The programme aimed to protect at-risk people, eight million acres of agricultural land and 2.2 million housing units.
Each province was also implementing flood protection measures. Of the 2.1 million homes destroyed in the 2022 floods, 600,000 had been rebuilt, while reconstruction of the remaining houses was under way.
In her concluding remarks, committee expert and task force leader for Pakistan, Julieta Rossi, said the delegation had outlined processes for implementing economic, social and cultural rights, as well as the significant challenges facing the country and gaps between legislative progress and implementation.
“This information would be reflected in the committee’s concluding observations, which the panel hoped that Pakistan would implement in good faith,” she added.
Mr Malik said in his concluding remarks that the delegation had outlined its efforts to bridge the gaps between constitutional guarantees and their realisation.
“The country’s trajectory was toward the progressive realisation of covenant rights,” he said, adding that despite constraints and challenges, Pakistan had made considerable progress since its first review.
“[Pakistan] hopes that the committee’s candour and rigour will help pave the way for the full realisation of economic, social and cultural rights for all,” he added.
Committee vice chair and acting chair of the dialogue, Asraf Ally Caunhye, thanked the delegation for its participation in the constructive dialogue and its expression of unwavering commitment to protecting the rights enshrined in the covenant.
The Pakistani delegation comprised representatives from the Ministry of Law and Justice, the Ministry of Human Rights and the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2026
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