Reem Alsalem and new UN problem with sex work

The latest report on sex work of the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Girls and it’s chaotic presentation in late June 2024 not only outraged worldwide community of sex workers, but also seriously confused UN expert society. This report also shattered fragile balance of UN opinions about sex work regulation, which resulted in throwback of the entire discussion over sex work policies in UN for decades at least.

So, for now, UN has a problem with sex work. And, as it often happens in last years of world history, this problem has a face. We decided to find out by this long read article who this person is and what exactly happened.

Mrs. Reem Alsalem (born 1976) is a Jordanian independent consultant and former civil servant. She was educated at The American University in Cairo where she completed a master’s degree in International Relations in 2001. She subsequently graduated from the University of Oxford in 2003 with a Masters in Human Rights Law.

She was employed for 17 years as an international civil servant by the UNHCR where she worked with refugees in 13 countries. She left in 2016 to work as an independent consultant on humanitarian and gender issues. She speaks Arabic, English, French, German and Spanish.

Alsalem was appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls and took up the role in August 2021.

But who are these Special Rapporteurs of UN? The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

In the beginning of her work on this exact position she opposed the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill and claimed it could "open the door for violent males." Her views were disputed by the United Nations Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, and the spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights who said that "everyone (...) should have access to legal recognition of their gender identity based on self-identification." Six feminist organizations in Scotland—Engender, JustRight Scotland, Scottish Women’s Rights Centre, Scottish Women’s Aid, Amnesty International Scotland and Rape Crisis Scotland—also expressed disappointment by Alsaleem’s comments, accusing her of failing to speak with Scottish human rights or feminist organisations before her statements.

In 2023 an open letter published by the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), endorsed by several hundred NGOs and women’s groups, accused her of being "anti-trans", which she denies. Legal scholar Jens Theilen said that Alsalem "is using women’s rights as a tool to undermine trans rights" and considered her actions "a stark example of individual politics furthering rather than contesting oppression," citing the AWID letter. (source en.wikipedia.org)

By the way all this activities of Mrs. Reem Alsalem did not gave her name a wide recognition and in UK press she was repeatedly labelled as “that UN official”. Situation changed on 7^th of October 2023.

Her reaction on HAMAS attack that day which resulted in mass rapes and murders of Israeli women and girls send shockwaves in media. We‘ve found an article which describes what reaction this was. And, because it shows how Mrs. Reem Alsalem operates with facts and information in general, we’ve decided to note this article in our digest here in its entirety.

UN official continues to deny Hamas mass rape of Israeli women two days after ’clear and convincing’ evidence presented

The UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Girls, Reem Alsalem, continues to deny that Israeli women were mass raped by Palestinian men on Oct. 7, while claiming she has not heard or seen that Israel has been under heavy missile bombardment from Gaza in the south, and from Hezbollah in the north.

Four days after Oct. 7, Alsalem posted on former Twitter that the information about mass rapes of Israeli girls and women was “disinformation that was not examined in depth.”

In an interview with journalist Bar Shem-Ur in Ynet news, which was published on Tuesday, Alsalem repeated her claims.

“There was information that flew around, especially in the early days, that then turned out not to be true. I regret that until now I have not received any information. And that information is what I need in order to be able to do my work,” she said.

Shem-Ur reminded Alsalem that the terrorists had filmed the atrocities and Israel had made the footage public and asked her if she had seen the film. She refused to answer and instead made the astonishing claim that the footage was not enough evidence for her.

“We cannot rely on only digital material or material produced online or by the media… I cannot at this stage say… what exactly has happened,” she insisted, while going even further and insinuating that the film had been engineered by Israel.

“It may have happened indeed… I have not received the film. I am not a technical expert on videos, so I on my own will not be able to assess these videos. I will also need to seek technical expertise,” she said.

Two days before the interview, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten released a 24-page report. It concluded that there is “clear and convincing” evidence of systematic sexual violence committed by Hamas operatives against Israeli women, both on Oct. 7 itself, and later against hostages held inside the Gaza Strip.

“We saw a catalog of the most extreme and inhumane forms of torture and other horrors,” Patten said.

Alsalem, on the other hand, appears to accept Hamas’ claims and said that Israel was committing war crimes and genocide in Gaza.

“Reports of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and unfolding genocide,” she told the Israeli journalist, who responded, “Israeli cities and Israeli schools are also being bombarded every single day.”

Alsalem asserted she had no knowledge of the missiles shot against Israel from Hamas in the south to Hezbollah in the north.

“Every single day?” she replied. “Well, I would recommend, if that is the case, I would recommend that you also send that information to the special procedures so that we can look into it.”

The incredulous journalist asked her if she had not seen the news reports about the missiles, to which she responded that she had not. When pressed on the issue, she then said: “I have seen missile attacks, we have condemned attacks.”

On the day of the interview, Hezbollah fired more than 30 rockets towards the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona. On Monday, Hezbollah rockets killed one person and wounded another seven.

Alsalem was also the co-author of a February report that accused the IDF of sexually abusing Palestinian women and girls and abducting Palestinian babies.

When asked in the interview what her sources were for that allegation she refused to respond, saying it was “reasonably credible information” and that she could not say more due to “reasons of security.”

Source allisrael.com

This article was published March 7, 2024. At the same time, back in November 2023 Mrs. Alsalem decided to produce special report about sex work and the way sex work should be treated. For these she had announced open call for submissions to inform this report.

In January 2024, Assistant Professor Julie Ham in Brock’s Univercity Department of Sociology answered the call for submissions to inform this report, in part due to concerns over how the call was framed and the apparent conflation of sex work with human trafficking.

“Given the tone of the call, it was obvious that Special Rapporteur Reem Alsalem was looking for justification to eliminate or reduce prostitution and sex work,” says Ham. “Sex worker rights organizations were concerned that any submissions that challenged that view would possibly be disregarded.”

Ham volunteered to draft a submission on behalf of the Sex, Work, Law and Society Collaborative Research Network (CRN6), part of the Law and Society Association. She then worked with several collaborators to complete a response with evidence-based recommendations around the decriminalization of sex work as a means of protecting both the safety and rights of sex workers.

Other advocates for the rights of sex workers also made submissions to the Special Rapporteur’s call — more than 60 were compiled by the Count Me In! Consortium and are now available for public review. Ham says these are not reflected in the report.

“Given the number of submissions from sex worker rights advocates, these should be noted in the report to the Human Rights Council,” she says. “Numerous sex worker rights organizations took the time to develop a submission to provide the Special Rapporteur with information, commentary and analysis, but all of it has just been blatantly ignored.” (Source pelhamtoday.ca)

PRESENTATION OF THE REPORT AND DISCUSSION

Mrs. Reem Alsalem report under the name “Prostitution and violence against women and girls” was officially released on UN portal June 21^st, 2024. Official presentation of the report and discussion was scheduled for June 24^th, 2024 in Geneva’s Palace of Nations during 56th UN Human Rights Council. Ironically, all this happened in Switzerland, which Mrs. Alsalem labelled as “Pimp State” in her report.

Predictably, actual discussion over the report was very tense and emotional. Here is part of the official UN transcript of the event.

Human Rights Council Starts Dialogue on Drug Use, Harm Reduction and the Right to Health, and Concludes Discussion on Prostitution and Violence against Women

Discussion

Speakers condemned all forms of violence against women and girls and exploitation, and presented international norms that helped to protect women and girls from the dangers of prostitution.  They also presented domestic laws, national action plans and programmes addressing violence against women and girls, protecting women’s rights and supporting victims of trafficking and violence. Some speakers expressed support for a proposed Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and an independent treaty relating to violence against women and girls.

Some speakers said that they had implemented laws banning prostitution and pimping to protect women.  They said that prostitution legalised the sexual abuse of persons and needed to be banned.  Some speakers agreed with the Special Rapporteur’s view that prostitution was a form of systematic violence against women enabled by patriarchal norms.  Sex workers faced significant health and safety risks.  Prostitution commodified women and girls and exacerbated inequalities, disproportionately affecting minorities. 

A number of speakers presented an abolitionist view, arguing for the decriminalisation of prostitution, which strengthened protections for sex workers and improved their working conditions.  Only by strengthening the rights of sex workers could States prevent violence against them.  Prohibition did not prevent such abuse; it forced women to perform sex work in a more dangerous environment and increased the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases and other health risks for sex workers.  Some speakers expressed regret that the report did not reference a diverse range of women’s voices calling for decriminalisation, including non-governmental organizations and sex workers.  One speaker said it was not appropriate for States to be qualified as “pimping States”.

Some speakers described the report as stigmatising, as it did not reference decades of research or the voices of sex workers. It promoted policies that facilitated violations of sex workers’ rights and ignored their plight.  The report denied the agency and autonomy of sex workers. It conflated sex work with abuse of women and trafficking.  Sex work needed to be recognised as a job and stigmatisation of sex workers needed to be addressed.  Sex workers deserved labour rights.  The report dangerously conflated the needs of adults and children and ignored transgender survivors of abuse.  Sex workers deserved the right to make decisions about their bodies and livelihood. Some speakers expressed regret that the report used the stigmatising term “prostitute” rather than “sex worker”.

One speaker said that the report did not address families and their role in bringing up children.  The speaker called on the Special Rapporteur to base her views on internationally accepted legal norms.

Source ungeneva.org

It’s worth mentioning here that only 54 states were present during this discussion via representatives. USA, UK, Germany, all states of Australia and Sweden were notably absent.

Despite visible opposition Mrs. Reem Alsalem, nevertheless, proceed with Concluding Remarks. Here they are without any reduction.

Concluding Remarks

“REEM ALSALEM, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, in closing remarks, thanked speakers expressing their support for her mandate.  Her mandate also covered girls.  Three hundred submissions were received during the call for input, which collectively mentioned 60 countries in seven regions.  Of those, 24 governments had sent submissions and many more were made by United Nations agencies and civil society.  A third of civil society who sent input wanted prostitution to be recognised as “sex work”.  Many had called for the criminalisation of prostitution but did not have the resources to visit Geneva.  The report was one of the most footnoted Council thematic reports and she had reviewed every submission.  These were available to be reviewed online. 

Many organizations of persons in prostitution were also instrumentalised by pimps and traffickers; often former prostituted women were recruited as pimps.  This reality needed to be taken into account.  States should involve the full spectrum in prostitution irrespective of their position when it came to designing policies.  Most of the victims’ and survivors of prostitution rejected the term “sex work” because they believed it gaslighted them and trivialised the violence to which they had been subjected.  Terminology needed to reflect minimum agreed-on terms by States.  Ms. Alsalem said she categorically rejected sex work and sex worker terms, but other human rights sensitive terminology could be used.  The term victim was not derogatory; it was a legal status which meant women and girls in prostitution had been wronged and deserved accountability and reparations. 

Many of those in prostitution had entered into it as girls and therefore consent was not appropriate in this context.  The overwhelming majority were not aware of the exploitation they had faced and had not been able to exit because of safety considerations or the lack of other opportunities.  By continuing to focus on a tiny minority who were free in prostitution, this allowed States and societies to get away without addressing underlying causes which pushed women in prostitution; there was an urgency to address this human rights crisis. 

Ms. Alsalem agreed with organizations choosing to decriminalise women in prostitution.  She and 150 countries also agreed that legalising all aspects of prostitution created more violence and was not the correct approach.  Focusing only on an anti-trafficking approach to abolish prostitution had produced little result.  It had not helped women exit prostitution or addressed the root causes. The evolutionist model offered the best human rights and gender-sensitive approach in response to prostitution.  This needed to be applied comprehensively and not in piecemeal.  The European Union parliament resolutions of 2014 and 2023 on prostitution were best practices.  Ms. Asalem was surprised many European speakers had not referred to them. 

Businesses, including media, tourism and travel had a clear human rights obligation and needed to be held accountable. Pornography sites must open themselves up to law enforcement, to assess anti-trafficking risk.  Transgender persons and their organizations were invited to the consultations but given the limited word count, she had preferred to focus on issues common to all women and girls, irrespective of gender identity or sexual orientation. “

Source ungeneva.org

Saying this Mrs. Alsalem officially shut down discussion on sex work within frame of 56th UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Protest under a banner “Bodily Autonomy for All" during the UN Human Rights Council (Photo: ESWA)

REACTION TO THE REPORT

It was easy to predict that general reaction for such provocative report will be highly polarized. From one side we can see full support of Mrs. Alsalem work from the various evangelical bodies (source here), or Anglican Communion, who did found their contribution on page 4, footnote 37 of the report (source here). And even raved support of her approach from Communist Party of Great Britain (source here).

From other side, sex workers rights organizations and various women’s rights activists, especially those who were present in Geneva, feeling fooled and blatantly ignored by Mrs. Alsalem, reacted extremely harsh.

Here are few reaction statements of NGOs who were present during discussion over this report in Palace of Nations.

European Sex Workers Rights Alliance (ESWA) reaction

Diverse sex workers from all over the world came together for the 56th UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to resist the Special Rapporteur’s on Violence Against Women and Girls Reem Alsalem’s biased and factually incorrect „prostitution report”. Despite the progressive countries and organisations openly condemning the report, the Special Rapporteur pushed for an agenda of criminalising the sex industry – inspiring a protest under a banner “Bodily Autonomy for All" during the UN Human Rights Council. 

European Sex Workers’ Rights Alliance (ESWA) Executive Director Sabrina Sanchez gave a first-hand account of this historic event: 

“It was incredible. The Special Rapporteur passed our rally on her way out of the UN building. She ignored us in the Palace of Nations – this time we gave her no choice but to listen to our demands to respect sex workers’ consent.” 

It is true the Special Rapporteur is notorious for ignoring sex workers’ voices: many of the submissions for the report that were sent following her call for submissions in November 2023, were published only on the same day as her report presentation at the UN HR Council. Some written contributions, including ESWA’s and The Global Network Of Sex Work Projects’, were entirely excluded and are missing from the Rapporteur’s website. Global feminist movements and networks have in the past struggled with Reem Alsalem’s transphobia and hostility towards sex workers and have therefore prepared an alternative repository of rights-based submissions.

Not even another UN level document can change Reem Alsalem’s mind. Shortly before her call for submissions, the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls published a guidance document stating clearly that all forms of criminalisation of sex work bring harm. While other official human rights bodies, world’s leading NGOs, and sex workers’ led organisations agree that a rights based approach is the way forward, Reem Asaleem continues her solo crusade against sex work, dismissing scientific evidence and lived experience alike. 

Source eswalliance.org

The Sex Workers’ Rights Advocacy Network (SWAN) reaction

The Report: A Step Backwards

The report presented by the Special Rapporteur has been heavily criticized for its regressive stance and disregard for sex workers and the sex work movement. It employs shameful and stigmatizing terminology that deepens the marginalization of sex workers. The report’s failure to distinguish between consensual sex work and trafficking demonstrates a lack of understanding of the issue’s complexity.

One of the most alarming aspects of the report is its advocacy for harmful models of criminalizing sex work. By pushing for these outdated and punitive approaches, the report disregards extensive submissions from sex workers and their allies that highlight the real impacts of such policies. Criminalization not only endangers sex workers but also undermines their human rights, safety, and dignity.

Source swannet.org

IPPF Reacting to the SR VAWG’s Report on Prostitution and Violence Against women and Girls

Stigmatising. 

Ideologically driven.

Damaging. 

These are just a few words that can describe this report. 

The International Planned Parenthood Federation is a global feminist, sexual and reproductive health and rights organisation with decades of experience providing services to sex workers’ of all genders. 

We denounce in the strongest terms the content of this report and the ideologically driven process that led to it. 

The report ignores decades of international evidence and global recommendations by WHO, UNAIDS, Amnesty International - and more importantly sex workers themselves.

Sex workers’ voices have deliberately been ignored in the drafting of this report, reproducing the patriarchal silencing and exclusion that sex workers face in their daily lives. 

At times of increasing attacks on women’s and LGBTQI communities, this report is fuelling misconceptions and harmful stigmatisation. The report promotes policies consistently proven to violate sex workers’ human rights using human rights rhetoric and erase sex workers consent, agency and humanity 

At a time when racialised and migrant communities are increasingly calling to end police brutality and impunity, this report only offers more criminalisation and policing - putting the lives of most marginalised sex workers at risk. 

The International Planned Parenthood Federation support the full decriminalisation of sex work. and stands in full solidarity with sex workers, their organisations and their struggles for human rights. 

There is no feminism without sex workers. 

Sex work is work. 

Source ippf.org

To conclude this digest we must admit, that this story is far from over, and probably we will witness other Mrs. Reem Alsalem activities in future. At the same time we must note that worldwide media are wrong about her using this mem “that UN official”. Taking into account her Special Rapporteur position she is clearly not UN official. Mrs. Alsalem is independent expert, who is not in UN staff, and, basically, her report is her personal opinion. But question is - who is funding such amount of work? We have no idea who these people are. And it looks like real UN officials should investigate and solve this riddle.

And better sooner, than later.

Team of the portal “Legalife-Ukraine”

Cover photo: screen shot