Biography
Reem Alsalem was appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences in July 2021 by the UN Human Rights Council for a three-year tenure. She started her tenure on 1 August 2021.
Reem Alsalem is an independent consultant on gender issues, the rights of refugees and migrants, transitional justice and humanitarian response. She has consulted extensively for United Nations departments, agencies and programs such as UN-Women, OHCHR, UNICEF and IOM, as well as for non-governmental organizations, think tanks and academia. Previously, she worked as an international civil servant, serving with the UNHCR in thirteen countries. During her service, she has planned, implemented, and monitored programs that served to protect persons that were survivors of gender-based violence, particularly women and girls.
She has also been a visiting professional with the Prosecutor’s Office of the ICC from January to March 2009 and a visiting researcher with the Feinstein International Center of Tufts University in December 2008. Visiting Professional, Investigation Unit of the Prosecutor Office, International Criminal Court, the Hague, the Netherlands, January 2009-March 2009.
Reem has a Master’s in International Relations from the American University in Cairo, Egypt (2001) and a Masters in Human Rights Law from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (2003).
Abstract
Reem Alsalem, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls, Its Causes and Consequences, responses to the false and unfounded accusations and personal attacks on her Report on Prostitution and Violence Against Women presented before the 56th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, 2024. I presented new evidence regarding the relationship between violence against women and girls and prostitution. Using human rights law, the Report described how prostitution is a system of abuse, exploitation, and violence against women and girls. The Report’s goal was to clarify concepts and terminology, to describe the root causes and consequences of prostitution. The report’s success lies in breaking the domination of the one-sided narrative that was largely imposed by powerful lobbies and interest groups that benefit from the exploitation and abuse of women’s bodies and seek to legitimize it. When prostituted women’s testimonies are given the weight they deserve; when the data is allowed to speak for itself, it is clear that prostitution is a system of violence against women and girls.
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Recommended Citation
Alsalem, Reem (2025) "Response to a Political Critique and Personal Attack Against a United Nations Report that Presented New Evidence About Prostitution as a Cause and Consequence of Violence Against Women and Girls," Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence: Vol. 10: Iss. 1, Article 6. https://doi.org/10.23860/dignity.2025.10.01.06
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