A two-year child marriage campaign led by SOC Films and the Legal Aid Society has begun in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with a mix of storytelling, community outreach and legal advocacy aimed at strengthening enforcement and prevention.
The partnership pairs the narrative reach of filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and SOC Films with LAS’s rights-based legal interventions to address both gaps in implementation and the underlying drivers of child marriage, including financial hardship, displacement, climate stress and lack of access to education.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy said the campaign will spotlight enforcement weaknesses and support reform by aligning narrative work with legal expertise, ensuring protection is upheld in practice as well as on paper. The initiative will deploy multi-platform content to raise public understanding of existing laws and where they fail to protect children.
Haya Emaan Zahid of the Legal Aid Society stressed that child marriage is a legal and human rights violation and said the partnership will combine law, media and community engagement to drive accountability, strengthen systems and pursue legislative and enforcement improvements so affected children can access justice.
The campaign will roll out content creation, community-based engagement, legal awareness initiatives and policy engagement with an emphasis on both enforcement and prevention. Practical support to families facing economic and climate pressures will be included so alternatives to child marriage are available and sustainable.
Initial activities are underway in Sindh and KPK, with plans to expand based on impact and stakeholder feedback. Over the two-year agreement the campaign aims to build widespread awareness of the law, close loopholes in practice and create pathways that protect children from early and forced marriage.
