Reem Alsalem - UN Special Rapporteur on VAWG, to visit UK in 2024. Seeks input

[ArabellaScott]

https://www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input/2024/call-inputs-country-visit-united-kingdom-great-britain-and-northern-ireland

Alsalem has been asked by the UK government to make a country report. She'll be here next Feb, and seeks info on VAWG.

' OHCHRCalls For Input
CALL FOR INPUT | SPECIAL PROCEDURES
Call for inputs – country visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

ISSUED BY

Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls

DEADLINE

10 February 2024

Purpose: To inform the Special Rapporteur’s visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, scheduled to take place from 12 to 21 February 2024
Background and objectives

At the invitation of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, Ms. Reem Alsalem, will conduct an official visit to the country from 12 to 21 February 2024.

Country visits are undertaken following an invitation by the Government and are prepared and conducted in the spirit of cooperation and dialogue with the State concerned. The objective of the country visit is for the Special Rapporteur to gain a first-hand understanding of issues related to her mandate, and in particular in relation to measures taken to prevent, combat and eliminate violence against women and girls, and to provide redress for victims. Following a country visit, the Special Rapporteur presents a report to the UN Human Rights Council outlining her findings, conclusions and recommendations to the State concerned. The conclusions and recommendations provided by the Special Rapporteur are a useful tool to guide States when adopting measures to prevent and eliminate violence against women. They also serve as a roadmap for other stakeholders working on gender-based violence issues in the country, such as civil society, women’s organisations, as well as UN agencies.

The visit of the Special Rapporteur will commence in London, and she will also undertake field visits, to both urban and rural areas in the different regions, in order to gain a first-hand understanding of the issues related to violence against women and girls as experienced by various segments of the population. During her visit, and as a means of gathering information from all relevant stakeholders, the Special Rapporteur intends to convene meetings with Government officials; representatives from civil society organizations; women’s organisations; community leaders; groups of women and girls; UN agencies; and other relevant stakeholders working towards the elimination of violence against women and girls in the country.

At the end of the visit on 21 February 2024, the Special Rapporteur will debrief relevant Government officials on her preliminary findings, and in line with established practice, she will also hold a press conference in order to share the preliminary findings with the broader public. Additional information on the venue and time of the press conference will be shared prior to the visit.

Key questions and types of input/comments sought

In preparation for the visit, the Special Rapporteur invites all interested individuals and organizations, including civil society organizations, women’s rights activists, and academics to provide inputs on:

Issues related to violence against all women and girls, based on intersecting grounds and including its different manifestations;
Information on groups of women and girls particularly at risk of being exposed to gender based violence;
Policies and legislation in place or being considered with a view to preventing and combating violence against women and girls.

While all submissions are welcome, the Special Rapporteur is particularly interested in receiving information on the following issues (the list is not exhaustive):

Legal, institutional and policy frameworks related to violence against all women and girls and the extent to which relevant international and regional human rights obligations of the UK are adhered to;
The adequacy of the legal and normative framework, including on
femicide and honour killings;
domestic violence including coercive control;
rape and sexual violence;
trafficking and sexual exploitation;
parental alienation and child custody;
exploitation of prostitution;
sexual harassment in public spaces and at work;
gender sensitive reception and asylum procedures;
online violence;
female genital mutilation;
access to sexual and reproductive health;
The implementation of constitutional guarantees, legal provisions and programmes aimed at eliminating violence against women and girls through strengthened capacity of municipal, regional and national representatives;
Measures undertaken to increase the transparency, accountability, and effective participation by women and women’s organizations in the design of laws and policies related to ending discrimination and violence against women and girls the allocation and monitoring of the spending of relevant budget, as well as the provision of effective assistance and protection for victims of gender-based violence;
The design and implementation of policies to ensure coordinated, gender-sensitive and comprehensive essential services for the survivors of gender-based violence against women;
Access to effective justice mechanisms and guarantees of non-repetition to ensure that perpetrators of violence are brought to justice;
Management shelters, protection orders and other integrated services for victims of gender-based violence against women and girls;
Equal treatment and access to services for all women and girls who are in the UK and who may be victims of violence, irrespective of their origin, legal status, and other grounds;
The capacity of stakeholders to collect and analyse and use data disaggregated by sex, gender, social group, disability, marital status, age, profession etc.;

Priority groups of women and girls

Women and girl migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers;
Stateless women and girls, or those who are at risk of statelessness;
Lesbian, bisexual women or transgender;
Members of racial, ethnic or religious minority communities;
Women active in politics and public life (including sports);
Women human rights defenders;
Women and girls active in exercising their freedom of speech, thought and freedom of assembly;
Mothers or daughters involved in child custody procedures.'

Oh, it copied the whole thing. Sorry, wall of weirdly formatted text.

So transgender women are in the same priority bracket as lesbians and bisexual women... hmmmm..

Bit ambiguous- could she mean trans men?

I wonder exactly how much time will be taken up making sure to centre men while considering violence against women and girls?

UN at this point appear no friend to women and from the rest of their public image, they won't want input from anyone who is not penis-centric in any matter concerning women.

IIRC, Reem Alsalem does not follow the general UN line on this.

She does not. She intervened in the SCottish Govt GRR bill, on behalf of women, and has robustly defended single sex services etc.

Is she part of the same UN Women's group that failed to condemn the sexual violence against Israeli women?

Not posting this to stir up the many discussions, but I really want to know as it has been troubling me.

Her area of reporting is on violence against women.

If she is part of that group, would have expected more of her as she has shown her willingness to take a stand as an individual.

And if she is then her reputation in the UK will be seriously damaged.

Does anyone know?

Not sure if this is a complete answer, IWant, but might indicate:

"Claire Waxman, London’s first Victims’ Commissioner, wrote to Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Girls, to ask why the organisation has stayed silent. In response, Waxman tells me, Alsalem claimed the evidence was “not solid” enough to warrant a statement. An incredulous Waxman points out that November 25 is the UN’s International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls: “How can we talk about eliminating violence against women and girls if we are tacitly saying it’s acceptable to rape Jewish ones?”"

unherd.com/2023/11/metoo-unless-youre-a-jew/

Special rapporteurs are appointed by the UN Human Right Council - but they are not employed by the UN, and are independent experts. They are not part of any of the main UN arms (such as UN Women, in this case).

While her statement above on Israel/Hamas seems inadequate (at least from the extract given), I'm not sure she was the right person to ask for a one - she is not part of or a spokesperson for the UN, so couldn't really say anything about why they had or hadn't responded.

Thanks, Binturong. Useful clarification.

It would make sense yes. Although maybe she should have just directed the question elsewhere(?) but that sounds logical

Well if she is not be a direct UN Women's Representative, but appointed as an independent Rapporteur on VAW she was in an even better place to comment.

It was after all an autonomous group of Israeli women, known for working to support victims of VAW who demanded of the Israeli Government that this be investigated. This is because initially no effort (or as predominantly men decided it wasn't a significant issue) was made to evidence sexual violence and the women's group made a public statement about this reported in the Israeli press.

So at that point as the special Rapporteur she should have immediately come out in support of this women's group in making sure evidence was secured.

And quite honestly, how hard is it to say that if (as is all too often the case) women were sexaully assualted and raped during the attack, then she absolutely condemns it and reminds the world that women are often the first casualties of men's war. And she supports the efforts of the women's group in their work.

@IwantToRetire well said. It is abhorrent the lack of statements in condemnation across the board regarding the sexual violence on 7/10. I don't know what it's going to take?

if she is not be a direct UN Women's Representative, but appointed as an independent Rapporteur on VAW she was in an even better place to comment.

Comment on the attack, absolutely (and I don't know whether she has or not). But the info above was her being asked to comment on the UN response, not on the actual events.

Comment on the attack, absolutely (and I don't know whether she has or not). But the info above was her being asked to comment on the UN response, not on the actual events.

The response should have been the same as her response should have been. Not only is it widely known, but those working in the UN must know that during war women are victims of male violence. ie whether directly UN or indirectly, as those being paid to represent women, they should have said that. And that the Israeli government, instead of relying on religious fundamentists to "clear up the scene" their priority being burian within 24 hours, should have had those competent to asses the situation and collect evidence. And, which of course didn't occur to the partiarchs in the Israeli government, that forensic evidence should have been collected.

One can only hope that the online evidence (photos, videos) of the atrocities has been secured.

The response should have been the same as her response should have been

No, they are 2 very different questions. She was asked why the UN hadn't commented. She is unlikely to be in a position to answer that. She reports evidence to them; they do not routinely share their internal workings with her.

She could have gone on to add a personal statement, but as I've only seen the extract posted above I don't know if she did.

[And incidentally it is an unpaid position.]

She is unlikely to be in a position to answer that.

Not if she had taken the in principle decision in the first place to not only suspect, but when notified by the women in Israel, that what ever the circumstance there should an awareness that women are victims of male violence in war.

And quite honestly if a group of women in Israel can oluntarily form themselves into an investigating group, those presuming, whether paid or not, to represent or inform the UN on the consequences for women os war, should from the start ask that this be taken into account when investigating what had happened.

ie she should have said it is baffling that the gave the answer they did, but then she couldn't because she too had failed to comment.

Instead of which the established partriarchal institutions, with instituitional partriachal outlooks, ignored the evidence of violence against women, to conform to their narrow religious practices.

Here’s hoping that groups like NIA and Beira’s Place will have the opportunity to speak to the Rapporteur. She needs to see the wider picture here. Here’s also hoping her visit will provide a supportive environment for the letter written to Sunak by Sex Matters asking for govt to take violence against GC women seriously.

Have seen lots of photo op shots of women meeting Reem Alsalem and a few groups have reported on what they submitted in written evidence.

I doubt any of us could go but is anyone is an acredited journalist ...

Alsalem will hold a press conference at 1300hrs on Wednesday, 21 February 2024 at the Novotel London Waterloo Hotel,113 Lambeth Rd, London SE17LS. Access will be strictly limited to journalists.
https://www.ohchr.org/en/media-advisories/2024/02/uk-un-expert-assess-violence-against-women-and-girls