Reem Alsalem

Reem Alsalem (born 1976) is a Jordanian independent consultant and former civil servant. Since August 2021, she has served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls.

Quotes

• [It] would potentially open the door for violent males who identify as men to abuse the process of acquiring a gender certificate and the rights that are associated with it. [...]
  This presents potential risks to the safety of women in all their diversity (including women born female, transwomen, and gender non-conforming women).
• [The proposals] do not sufficiently take into consideration the specific needs of women and girls in all their diversity, particularly those at risk of male violence and those who have experienced male violence, as it does not provide for any safeguarding measures to ensure that the procedure is not, as far as can be reasonably assured, abused by sexual predators and other perpetrators of violence.
  • Extracts from a letter to the UK government, as cited in "UN expert warns men could 'abuse' Scottish gender reforms", BBC News (23 November 2022).
  • On the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill; full text. See the Isla Bryson case and Mridul Wadhwa.

• What I was saying was that there is no right — and I repeated that again and again — to self-ID and that self-ID also, when it is so unregulated, leads to negative consequences for specific groups of women based on their sex.
• Where there is a contradiction or a conflict we have to give consideration to the rights of women based on sex in these specific circumstances. In the letter I named a few — for example women in prisons, shelters from victims of violence.
  • At a conference of FiLiA in Glasgow, as cited in Emma Taggart "No right to self-identify gender, UN expert tells Scottish conference", The Times (14 October 2023)
  • Referring to her communications with the Scottish government on their Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, which was blocked by the Westminster government from receiving royal assent under section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998.

• We have seen numerous instances in which the presence of just one male on a female team is enough to knock women and girls off the podium.
  Moreover, allowing athletes born male to compete in women’s and girls’ sports also dramatically heightens the vulnerability of female athletes to injury. Regrettably, the fear of experiencing such harm can and does result in women and girls choosing to self-exclude themselves from participation.
  • "The US must uphold the rights of women and girls in sports", The Telegraph (21 February 2024)

• [N]ot only disappointed but also very concerned about this dystopian ruling ... which distorts key concepts like sex and discrimination while dodging Australia's international human rights obligations vis-à-vis women.
  • Post on X (formerly Twitter, https://x.com/UNSRVAW/status/1826909907829874950 on Tickle v Giggle], as cited in Louise Tickle "UN rapporteur 'disappointed' by Australian ruling in trans case", Tortoise (27 August 2024)
  • See Sall Grover for the case brought by the Australian transwoman Roxy (or Roxanne) Tickle.