{"id":98456,"date":"2026-07-24T16:08:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/?p=98456"},"modified":"2026-07-24T16:08:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:08:59","slug":"eu-lawmakers-push-special-envoy-on-pakistan-forced-conversions-ahead-of-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/zh\/learn\/eu-lawmakers-push-special-envoy-on-pakistan-forced-conversions-ahead-of-appeal\/","title":{"rendered":"EU lawmakers push special envoy on Pakistan forced conversions ahead of appeal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Members of the European Parliament are urging Mairead McGuinness, the European Union\u02bcs special envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, to engage with Pakistan over forced religious conversions as the country\u02bcs Federal Constitutional Court is due to hear 13-year-old Maria Shahbaz\u02bcs appeal on Friday.<\/p>\n

The calls follow growing concern over reports of the abduction, forced conversion, and marriage of girls from Pakistan\u02bcs Christian and Hindu minority communities. In a resolution passed in the European Parliament on July 9, lawmakers called on Pakistan to investigate and prosecute those responsible, while urging the EU to continue raising the issue in its political dialogue with Islamabad.<\/p>\n

Calls for special envoy engagement<\/h2>\n

Speaking at a conference on forced marriage and religious conversions held at the European Parliament last week, Slovak member of the European Parliament Miriam Lexmann said she had recently met with McGuinness to discuss the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe urge her to see this as a big priority,\u201d Lexmann said, adding that the envoy \u201chas to make this a key priority for the coming months and coming years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carmen Correas L\u00f3pez, legal officer for Europe at ADF International, which is supporting Maria\u02bcs case, told EWTN News the organization is working to arrange a September meeting with the special envoy to discuss the case and broader concerns about the persecution of Christians.<\/p>\n

Maria\u02bcs appeal<\/h2>\n

Maria, whose case is unrelated to the separate 2020 case involving Christian activist Maira Shahbaz, was abducted in July 2025 at the age of 12 and was allegedly forced to convert to Islam before being married to a man who was about 30 years old.<\/p>\n

Pakistan\u02bcs Federal Constitutional Court is due to hear her review petition<\/a> on Friday. The petition seeks to overturn an earlier judgment handed down in March that allowed Maria to remain with the man accused of abducting, forcibly converting, and marrying her.<\/p>\n

ADF International said Maria\u02bcs case reflects a broader pattern of forced marriage and religious conversion affecting girls from Pakistan\u02bcs minority communities and could establish an important legal precedent.<\/p>\n

According to research published by the Pakistan-based organization Voice for Justice, there were 210 documented cases involving Christian girls between 2019 and 2025. The organization said many victims' ages were falsified in official records and alleges that police, local officials, and religious figures facilitated fraudulent marriage and conversion documents.<\/p>\n

Maria\u02bcs father, Shahbaz Masih, told EWTN News that international support had given the family renewed hope after repeated legal setbacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepeated failures to obtain justice through the courts had all but extinguished our hope of bringing Maria home,\u201d Masih said. \u201cBut the overwhelming outpouring of support and solidarity, not only from Christians in Pakistan but also from Christians around the world, has rekindled our hope that we will one day be reunited with our daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

A test for the special envoy<\/h2>\n

The increased focus on Maria\u02bcs case follows the appointment of former European commissioner McGuinness as special envoy in March, ending a vacancy of more than a year that Christian advocacy groups and lawmakers had criticized as undermining the EU\u02bcs engagement on freedom of religion or belief.<\/p>\n

Commenting on McGuinness' appointment, Professor Shahid Mobeen of the Pontifical Theological Faculty Teresianum in Rome and president of the Italian Roundtable on Freedom of Religion or Belief said the move should lead to stronger EU engagement with Pakistan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe appointment of the European Union\u02bcs new special envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief makes it necessary that the envoy engages actively with the Pakistani authorities and civil society in support of meaningful reforms,\u201d he said at the conference.<\/p>\n

Mobeen also called on the EU to use Pakistan\u02bcs GSP+ status, which grants the country preferential access to the EU market in return for meeting human rights obligations, to press for stronger protections for religious minorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe European Union should, therefore, make full use of the GSP+ monitoring mechanism, paying particular attention to Pakistan\u02bcs commitment to freedom of religion or belief and ensuring that these commitments are effectively implemented and translated into tangible improvements for vulnerable communities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

EWTN News sought comment from the European Commission, including on whether the special envoy intends to engage with Pakistani authorities following Parliament\u02bcs resolution, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.ewtnnews.com\/world\/europe\/eu-lawmakers-push-special-envoy-on-pakistan-forced-conversions-ahead-of-appeal<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of the European Parliament are urging Mairead McGuinness, the European Union\u02bcs special envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, to engage with Pakistan over forced religious conversions as the country\u02bcs Federal Constitutional Court is due to hear 13-year-old Maria Shahbaz\u02bcs appeal on Friday. The calls follow growing concern over reports of the abduction, forced […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[100],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-98456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-news"],"mb":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":71701,"url":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/zh\/learn\/eu-discusses-increased-christian-persecution-in-south-asia\/","url_meta":{"origin":98456,"position":0},"title":"EU Discusses Increased Christian Persecution in South Asia","author":"Christian Pure Team","date":"3 3 \u6708, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The European Parliament came together in Brussels, Belgium, on Dec. 4 to discuss the rising violence against Christians in South Asia. 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