ll cases of child marriage that make the headline have one thing in common: a situation which reveals that somewhere the system is failing to protect and safeguard children. The case of Dua Zehra has once again brought to the limelight questions of consent, free will, forced marriage, grooming and disappointed parents in packed courtrooms and before a dozen media microphones. It has also brought to the fore a heated debate on whether to believe the love story of a young couple and validate it or to side with parents seeking justice against alleged abduction and child marriage. From these debates, it seems that law and policy are secondary and the court of public opinion, YouTube and self-proclaimed religious scholars, primary in deciding what we think of this case.

What we are mostly silent on is what law, policy and guidance say on child marriage. What existing policies promote childhood development, which includes safe spaces, education and imparting essential life skills? How does the system respond if a child marriage does take place? What are our policies on safeguarding children? What are the court, police and provincial child protection units’ responsibilities when such cases come before them? What are the specific policies that exist for vulnerable children, particularly the girl child? While we recognise that adolescence is a significant period of rapid change, where young people assume adult behaviours, we must also accept that they can be vulnerable when attempting to exercise their autonomy under some societal rules. Therefore, a framework in terms of law or police which provides us a broad guidance under which we operate, is essential. It cannot be left to social media and families’ and society’s own arbitrary rules, particularly when we see cases of forced marriage, denial of education and other harmful practices.

Pakistan is a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which recognises any person under the age of 18 as a child. The Child Marriage Restraint Act states that a girl can marry at 16 and a boy at 18 years of age. Only in Sindh is the marriageable age 18 years for both men and women. Federal and provincial laws provide penalties for those that allow child marriage to take place or a man to marry an underage girl. However, the laws do not declare void a marriage once it has taken place. This means the law is merely preventative in nature; many argue that it is a law without teeth. In other words, the law is effective to prevent a child marriage but once a marriage has taken place, it’s anyone’s guess as to how things will move further. Some parents remain quiet to not attract attention and allow a marriage to continue even if it violates family rules and breaks the law. Others, like Dua Zehra’s parents, have chosen to speak out and approached the courts. Because the law is silent on the status of an existing child marriage, the rules of society and inconsistent interpretations of judges, as seen in various child marriage cases brought before the courts, take centre stage.

These include treating children in the family courts as adults, not as children. In cases of child marriage, judges are often dealing with situations where girls allege to have married of their own free will. Here the court system automatically disassociates the child from childlike behaviours, such as innocence and being more vulnerable to external influence and control. In child marriage cases, some courts do not apply the usual principle of the best interest of the child, which is otherwise applied to cases in family courts of custody and guardianship hearings. Most courts also fail to instruct child protection units or the police to apply the rules that would apply to a child in the court system, those of safeguarding them, ensuring their safety between court dates, ensuring speedy conclusions, and if required, setting up of an expert and independent panel to engage with the child. Women police officers have been questioned for their impartiality in the Dua Zehra case. In such situations, there must be alternatives the court can consider, including engagement with the relevant child protection unit to appoint social or case officers to the girl. Girls are treated as women in cases where marriage is the issue, leading to ‘routine adult procedures’ and silence on the welfare and protection of the child in question. The court also allows societal bias that applies to women exercising their autonomy and will on a girl child claiming a child marriage was entered into with consent. This is not only detrimental to the girl in question but could potentially lead to unfair conclusions by the court.

Political will on the subject has been inconsistent at best. The stark gap left by the system in terms of policy or rules about how to deal with child marriage has led to arbitrary and haphazard approaches by the courts and unprofessional and irrational approaches by the police. Policymakers must recognise the link between child marriage and population growth, the continuing cycle of poverty, further vulnerability to domestic violence, higher risk of fistula in young girls giving birth and nutritional deprivation and cognitive impairment in infants born to young mothers. They must then take bold and proactive steps to address it including creating opportunities for young girls to reach their full potential, beyond marriage and giving birth.

Evidence suggests that while child marriage for under 18s has decreased from 21 percent to 18.3 percent, child marriage for girls under 15 years of age has slightly increased from 3 percent to 3.6 percent. However, these are not concrete figures. The lack of reliable data leads to institutional reluctance to the address the issue and its far-reaching negative consequences. If we want a future where youth (the largest demographic in the country) are empowered to take us forward in terms of economic and social development, we must address children through policy and dialogue and set clear guidance on how children are safeguarded in formal and informal systems.

The writer is a lawyer and consultant. Twitter: @BenazirJatoi