On 7 July 2026, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the abduction, forced conversion and child marriage of 13-year-old Maria Shahbaz in Pakistan, and calling for stronger protections for minority girls both in Pakistan and within the EU. The resolution, tabled by Tomasz Froelich, Petr Bystron and Marc Jongen on behalf of the ESN Group, expresses solidarity with victims and considers the case part of a widespread pattern targeting religious minorities, particularly Christians and Hindus.
Maria Shahbaz, a Pakistani Christian girl, was abducted in July 2025, forcibly converted to Islam and married to a 30-year-old Muslim man. On 25 March 2026, Pakistan’s Federal Constitutional Court upheld the marriage, ruling the conversion voluntary and the girl an adult. The Parliament calls on Pakistan to ensure the safe return of abducted girls, prosecute abusers, enforce child-protection laws, and raise the minimum marriage age.
The resolution also links the case to UK grooming gangs, citing at least 250,000 victims and noting that 84% of perpetrators were Muslim men of Pakistani heritage, as well as a German task force established in Nürnberg in mid-2026. It urges EU member states to adopt a zero-tolerance approach and expel foreign national child offenders. The resolution is a non-binding political statement; it does not create new EU legislation but pressures both Pakistan and EU governments to act against forced child marriages and conversions, while using the case to push for stricter measures against grooming gangs linked to uncontrolled migration.