The European Parliament on 6 July 2026 adopted a resolution condemning the abduction, forced conversion and child marriage of 13-year-old Maria Shahbaz, a Christian girl from Lahore, and calling on Pakistan to protect minority girls. The resolution explicitly links these demands to Pakistan's trade preferences under the EU's Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+), which grants tariff reductions conditional on compliance with international human rights conventions.
Maria Shahbaz disappeared in July 2025 and later appeared in court claiming voluntary conversion to Islam and marriage to a 30-year-old man, but her family says she acted under duress. In February 2026, Pakistan's Federal Constitutional Court granted custody of Maria to the alleged abductor, despite documentary evidence of her minority status and earlier findings that marriage documents were falsified. The resolution welcomes the Punjab Child Marriage Restraint Act 2026, adopted in May 2026, which raises the legal minimum marriage age to 18, but insists that enforcement remains critical.
The Parliament calls on Pakistani authorities to ensure Maria's immediate protection, grant her legal representation and independent psychological support, and allow independent monitoring by human rights organisations. It urges the Pakistani judiciary to conduct proceedings free from external pressure and to build judicial capacity. The resolution also encourages Pakistan to create a national complaint mechanism for families of abducted or forcibly converted minority girls.
On EU action, the resolution calls on the European Commission and Member States to raise forced conversions, forced marriages and protection of religious minorities in all bilateral dialogues with Pakistan, including GSP+ monitoring. This positions the Parliament as pressing for stronger human rights conditionality in trade relations, potentially affecting Pakistan's access to preferential tariffs. The resolution is a political statement and does not automatically alter GSP+ terms, but it signals parliamentary pressure for the Commission to scrutinise Pakistan's compliance more closely.