The civil society of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa presented a charter of demands (CoD) to the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) calling for an urgent action to end child marriages in the province.

The charter of demands has been endorsed by key civil society organisations and networks, including End Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG) Alliance (KP), Provincial Alliance to End Child Marriages, Pakhtunkhwa Civil Society Network (PCSN),National Action Coordination Group, Pakistani Men Against Rape-KP Chapter, Fight Against Dowry Advocacy Network (FADAN)-KP, TransAction (Provincial Alliance of Transgender Community), Partners in Prevention and Response (P4PR),Members Young Omang Network, Faith Leaders for Rights and Ujjala Network.

The charter of demands was endorsed during a round table discussion on "Child Marriage Restraint Bill" organised by UN Women in collaboration with EVAW/G Alliance (KP) here on Thursday in Peshawar.

The KP's civil society stressed that gender equality is critical to social justice, fairness and equity and that marriage below 18 years of age is a grave violation of fundamental human rights.

According to Unicef, 21 percent of Pakistani girls are married by the age of 18, and 3 percent before 15, and Pakistan has the sixth highest number of child brides in the world (1.9 million).

According to Health and Demographic Survey 2017-2018, among the household population of Pakistan 50 percent of women have no education compared with 34 percent of men, and 22.3 percent women cited child and early marriages as one of the reason of discontinuation of their education. The child marriage has serious repercussions on health, education and well-being of the girl and also impacts her family, community and the society at large.