Joint Statement Concerning the Call for Input by the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls – Women Deliver

Joint Statement Concerning the Call for Input by the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls

We, the undersigned feminist, human rights and social justice organizations committed to gender equality and social justice, express deep concern regarding the framing of the call for a thematic report by the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls (SRVAW), which adopts a “sex-based” rather than a “gender-based” approach. This framing undermines decades of progress in advancing human rights and gender equality and risks confining cisgender women to patriarchal, protectionist policies by interpreting violence as rooted in biology. It further marginalizes vulnerable groups, including trans and gender-diverse persons, increasing the risk of violence and hatred.

The Strategic Shift of the Focus from Real Perpetrators to an Oppressed Group

The current mandate holder has unfortunately dedicated her tenure to attacking trans and gender-diverse people. Many of her calls and statements have indirectly framed trans people as an obstacle for cis women in achieving safety and equality. This dangerous narrative shifts focus away from patriarchal systems and cis-normative gender roles as the primary sources of violence, discrimination, and inequality. Instead, it positions trans people as scapegoats, enabling the very systems responsible for violence and oppression to avoid accountability. This approach undermines the broader fight for gender equality and harms cis women by reinforcing paternalistic and protectionist policies that uphold patriarchal power structures. Such policies, presented as “women’s protection,” constrain women within patriarchal systems rather than breaking away from patriarchal power dynamics altogether and empowering them, inter alia, through autonomy and equitable redistribution of power and resources. It is telling that anti-gender actors123 have often welcomed the current mandate holder’s reports and positions and have used her framing and recommendations to push for retrogressive language and to argue against the inclusion of gender-related language in resolutions. This alignment reveals how such framing serves regressive agendas, patriarchal systems, and anti-rights actors rather than advancing human rights for all.4

The current mandate holder has a history of efforts that have caused tangible harm, including:

  • Undermining National and Regional Reforms: unsolicited interventions on rights-affirming reforms, such as the Scottish Gender Recognition Reform Bill and the Council of Europe resolution on sex workers’ rights.
  • Opposing UN Evidence-Based Policies: Ignoring and attacking established UN positions supporting trans and gender-diverse persons5 and sex workers,6 attempting to insert her mandate into resolutions at the Human Rights Council in violation of the mandate’s independent nature.
  • Manipulating data: Erasing and ignoring contributions from rights holders and affected communities including sex workers, trans persons, and allied organizations in her thematic reports.7

Why Framing Violence as “Sex-Based” is a Problematic Lens

The Special Rapporteur’s call framing violence as “sex-based” imposes a limited lens for understanding systemic violence, overlooks the structural root causes of such violence, thereby undermining access to an effective remedy and seeks to erase the well-established understanding of gender-based violence (GBV) within the UN system and international law.

As defined by the World Health Organization:

“Gender refers to the characteristics of women, men, girls and boys that are socially constructed. This includes norms, behaviours and roles associated with being a woman, man, girl or boy, as well as relationships with each other. As a social construct, gender varies from society to society and can change over time.”8

Gender has been the subject of decades of feminist scholarship and organizing, as well as the work of human rights mechanisms. It captures both biological elements and the social interpretations of those elements, as well as the systems of regulation surrounding them. Feminists have long argued that sex is always gender because power imbalances stem not from sexual (biological) elements themselves but from societal interpretations and regulations of those elements. Consequently, discussions about sex are inherently discussions about gender.

The “sex-based” approach reduces the complex social and structural dynamics of violence to a rigid, biological understanding of sex, ignoring lived realities. By promoting a Western colonial patriarchal worldview that insists on the binary nature of sex, it disregards the lived experiences of millions of people. The notion of binary sex stems from Western colonial patriarchy, which historically used strict sex distinctions to assert white supremacy. Under this framework, Black and other racialized women were labeled as inherently gender non-conforming with catastrophic consequences on their health and rights. The category of “woman” has always been racialized, with white women expected to enforce binary gender norms violently upon anyone deemed non-conforming. This legacy underpins the harmful positions now advanced by the current mandate holder.

In the real world, neither sex nor gender is binary. Sex comprises many elements, manifesting differently in individuals.9 The Special Rapporteur’s positions oversimplify these realities and perpetuate an alternative worldview rooted in exclusion and erasure. Even though Special Procedures have a crucial role in upholding the universality and indivisibility of human rights, the current mandate holder’s stance undermines progress on gender equality and reinforces harmful narratives that perpetuate violence and discrimination.

Established Norms

In the call for input, the mandate holder directly contradicts her position by justifying her use of “sex-based” violence with the following statement:

“While the term ‘sex’ has not been defined in international law, Article 31 of the Vienna Declaration on the Law of Treaties (1969) mandates that treaties be interpreted ‘in good faith in accordance with the ordinary meaning to be given to the terms of the treaty in their context and in the light of its object and purpose.’ The same article also specifies that States shall take into account—together with the context in which a treaty was concluded—‘any relevant rules of international law applicable in the relations between parties’ and any subsequent practice. Based on the aforementioned, sex is to be understood as a ‘biological category’ and a distinction between women and men as well as boys and girls. This is the understanding that the Special Rapporteur has for the purposes of the report.”

Human rights mechanisms have clarified as early as 1989 that the prohibition of sex-based discrimination, as enshrined in core international human rights treaties, includes gender-based discrimination.10 In its General Recommendation 35, CEDAW reaffirmed this interpretation as including gender-based violence, which it defines as “violence which is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately”. This definition has been accepted and recognised by over 30 years of State practice and now forms a principle of customary international law.11 Furthermore, the term “gender-based violence” is recognised by CEDAW as a more precise and preferred term to “violence against women” as it makes explicit “the gendered causes and impacts of the violence”, and emphasizes the social structures and causes of the violence. This is a position that previous mandate holders have always endorsed.12

These standards cover all women, including trans and intersex women and gender-diverse people,13 who are disproportionately targeted for social control based on their perceived transgressions of established gender roles and sexuality.14 UN agencies, Treaty Bodies, and past Special Procedures mandate holders have long promoted a gender-based lens to address violence, rooted in the principles of non-discrimination, universality, and interdependence of rights. Gender as a concept was not developed at the time when human rights law was created. Feminist scholarship and human rights mechanisms have redefined the concept of “sex.” Unfortunately, the current mandate holder misinterprets “sex” in bad faith by ignoring decades of feminist scholarship and the work of human rights mechanisms in defining the concept of sex and gender, undermining decades of coherent UN agency, Treaty Body, and Special Procedures’ analysis of gender.


Call to Action

We urge all human rights mechanisms and bodies, including UN Treaty Bodies, Special Procedures Mandate Holders, and UN Agencies to:

  1. Adopt an inclusive, evidence-based gender lens, recognizing that violence is rooted in structural inequalities and social norms, expectations and stereotypes, not biology alone.
  2. Refrain from divisive and biologically deterministic narratives that undermine the rights of cis women and trans and gender-diverse persons.
  3. Center the autonomy, agency, and voices of all rights-holders, especially those directly impacted by patriarchal violence.

Our Position on Participation

We respectfully call on civil society organizations, academics, and other stakeholders not to validate the problematic “sex-based” framing, but instead to engage through advocacy and submissions to this call for inputs which challenge the flawed premise and reaffirms the indivisibility and universality of human rights.

Violence against women and girls cannot be addressed without an intersectional and inclusive gender-based framework. Rights belong to all humans; there are no separate or special categories of rights beyond those grounded in universal principles. Let us collectively uphold this vision.

Signed by:

  1. Action contre la Faim – France
  2. AFDA Familias Diversas 
  3. AFEMTRAS 
  4. Aidos
  5. Akina Mama wa Afrika 
  6. Alianza Si Podemos
  7. APROSEX
  8. Arachnapoid
  9. Asamblea Feminista de Madrid
  10. Asamblea Nacional Trans No binarie 
  11. ASEAN SOGIE Caucus
  12. Asia Pacific Alliance for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (APA)
  13. Asia Pacific Transgender Network
  14. Asociación de Servicios Integrales por la Equidad en la Sociedad A.C.
  15. Asociación por las Infancias Transgénero 
  16. Association of LGBTI People in Zimbabwe- GALZ
  17. ASTRA Network
  18. Athens Pride 
  19. Australian Women’s Health Alliance
  20. Austrian Family Planning Association
  21. AWID 
  22. Balance A.C.
  23. BearHands Amsterdam 
  24. Bonhishikha 
  25. Bundesverband Trans*  / Federal Association Trans (Germany)
  26. CAN-Myanmar
  27. Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform
  28. CARAM Asia
  29. Casa CoMadreja y Circulo de Parteras en apoyo a migrantes
  30. Casa de las Muñecas Tiresias AC
  31. Center for Reproductive Rights
  32. Centre for Sexualities, AIDS and Gender, University of Pretoria 
  33. CEPESJU
  34. Charity Foundation Woman health &Family Planning , IPPF MA Ukraine 
  35. Chirapaq/ECMIA
  36. CHOICE for Youth and Sexuality
  37. COC Nederland
  38. Colectiva Tzitzimiyotl
  39. Colectiva unidas somos más
  40. Colectivo de Prostitutas de Sevilla
  41. Colectivo TLGB Tarija
  42. Colors Rainbow
  43. COMCAVIS TRANS
  44. Comitato per i Diritti Civili delle Prostitute APS
  45. Common Action for Gender Development COMAGEND 
  46. Community Care Collective
  47. Comunidad Cultural de Tijuana LGBTI A.C.
  48. Controla tu Gobierno A.C.
  49. Cooperativa Sociale Parsec a r.l.
  50. Copenhagen Pride
  51. Correlation-European Harm Reduction Network 
  52. Council for Global Equality
  53. Count Me In! consortium, consisting of AWID, CREA, JASS, Mama Cash, UAF Africa, and UAF for Feminist Activism, and strategic partners Red Umbrella Fund and WO=MEN
  54. Courageous Sisters Ghana 
  55. Creación Positiva
  56. CSD Olpe e. V. 
  57. DASTAK Foundation 
  58. Democracia sin barreras 
  59. DIOTIMA – Centre for Gender Rights and Equality
  60. Diverlex
  61. DRACHMA MALTA
  62. DSIL Designing for Systems Innovation and Leadership 
  63. EcST-Espert* contro la Tratta
  64. Edge Effect
  65. EL*C – EuroCentralAsian Lesbian* Community
  66. ELLA Mexico
  67. End FGM EU
  68. Equal Asia Foundation
  69. EquiLabs
  70. Equipop
  71. Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
  72. ESQUERRA REPUBLICANA DE CATALUNYA
  73. Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya 
  74. European Network for the Rights and Health among Migrant Sex Workers-TAMPEP
  75. European Sex Workers Rights Alliance
  76. Family Planning Association of Nepal
  77. Fédération Laïque de Centres de Planning Familial (FLCPF – BE)
  78. Feminist Gender Equality Network 
  79. Feminist Task Force, FTF
  80. Feministas en Holanda
  81. FILIA Center
  82. FLIRT
  83. Fórum 50 %
  84. Fòs Feminista
  85. Foundation for Women and Family Planning FEDERA
  86. Foundation for Women’s Solidarity 
  87. FPES
  88. French Family Planning
  89. FRI – The Norwegian Organisation for Sexual and Gender Diversity
  90. Fundacion Arcoiris por el respeto a la diversidad sexual
  91. Fundación MUJER & MUJER 
  92. Fundheg
  93. GALA Queer Archive
  94. Gender Concerns International 
  95. Gender Dynamix
  96. Gestos – Soropositividade, Comunicação e Gênero 
  97. GIRLxGIRL
  98. Global Alliance against Traffic in Women
  99. Global Justice Center
  100. Groupe pour l’Abolition des Mutilations Sexuelles féminines (GAMS Belgique)
  101. HILFE-FÜR-JUNGS e.V.
  102. Hivos
  103. Hola Amigue
  104. Hope beyond foundation
  105. Human Right, Women and Migration
  106. ILGALAC
  107. Impulso Trans 
  108. Independent Filmworks Inc.
  109. Iniciativa Alianza EnBy Mx 
  110. Instituto de Investigación y Estudios para la Atención de la Violencia hacia NNA REHILETE A.C 
  111. Instituto Prios
  112. International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA)
  113. International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association (ILGA WORLD)
  114. IPPF
  115. International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA)
  116. Intersex Asia
  117. Intersex Philippines
  118. IYAFP
  119. Jóvenes por una salud integral 
  120. Kaos GL 
  121. KFUK-KFUM Global
  122. Kolektyw Kamelia
  123. Konsent
  124. Kwathu Ndi Kwanu
  125. La Revuelta
  126. LAIN Laboral Interseccional
  127. Lake Region Womxn Health and Equal Rights 
  128. Lazos por la Diversidad, México 
  129. LEDESER, A.C. (Litigio Estratégico en Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos, Asociación Civil.) México
  130. LEFÖ – Information, Education und Support of Migrant Women
  131. Life Quality Improvement Organisation FLIGHT
  132. LIRAD NIGERIA
  133. Malta LGBTIQ Rights Movement (MGRM)
  134. Mama Cash
  135. MANODIVERSA
  136. MAP Foundation
  137. MOVIMIENTO DE MUJERES DOMINICO HAITIANAS MUDHA.
  138. Movimiento Trans Feminista Bolivia 
  139. Naked Eye Productions Ltd
  140. NAmibia Diverse Women’s Assocation (NDWA)
  141. National Trans Coalition human rights NGO
  142. NESEHNUTÍ
  143. NGO KYIVPRIDE
  144. NGO WA Sphere (Ukraine)
  145. Ni Una Menos 
  146. NIJUDI A.C
  147. Northumbria University 
  148. ODRI – Office against Discrimination, Racism and Intolerance
  149. OII Chinese (Organizational Intersex International – Chinese)
  150. OII Europe
  151. Orgullo Ecatepec A.C
  152. OTRANS-RN, REDLACTRANS .
  153. Our Voices, Our Futures (OVOF) Programme
  154. Outright International 
  155. PION – Sex Workers’ interest organization in Norway 
  156. Planet Ally
  157. Planned Parenthood Global
  158. Platform Self-Determiniation and Residence Rights
  159. Población Diversa e Incluyente 
  160. Population Services and Training Center (PSTC)
  161. Pride in UA
  162. Profamilia Colombia
  163. Promoting Empowerment Through Awareness for Lesbian ad Bisexual Women
  164. Promsex – Centro de Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos 
  165. Prostitution Information Center (PIC)
  166. Q-Initiative C.B.O.  Kenya
  167. Queer.red
  168. RAÍCES Análisis de Género para el Desarrollo A.C.
  169. Red de familias trans 
  170. Red de Juventudes Trans México 
  171. RED GUATEMALTECA MUJERES EN ACCION
  172. Red Nacional de abogadas feministas Mexico
  173. Red Umbrella Sweden
  174. Reimagining Sex Work (NL)
  175. RFSL – The Swedish Federation for LGBTQI Rights
  176. RFSL Ungdom – Queer Youth Sweden
  177. Roter Stöckelschuh
  178. Rutgers
  179. SAIH – The Norwegian Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund
  180. SAVE sex workers rights (NL)
  181. savie asbl NGO LGBTQI DRC 
  182. Sdružení pro integraci a migraci, o.p.s.
  183. SEED Malaysia
  184. SekswerkExpertise
  185. Sensoa
  186. SERAC-Bangladesh
  187. Sex og Politikk (IPPF Norway)
  188. Sex Workers Alliance Ireland
  189. Sexual Reprodutctive Justice Coalition – Southern Africa
  190. SHOP (Stichting Hulp en Opvang Prostitutie en Mensenhandel)
  191. SHOP the Hague
  192. Sindicato OTRAS
  193. SistersLab – Association of Women in Science and Technology
  194. Skeiv Ungdom / Queer Youth Norway
  195. Society of Gender Professionals
  196. Solidarity Yaad International 
  197. Somos Manada México 
  198. STAR-STAR Skopje
  199. Success Capital Organisation 
  200. Surkuna Ecuador 
  201. Survivor Exit Foundation
  202. Tamtang Group 
  203. The Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies
  204. The Federation of the Women Associations in Turkiye
  205. The Global Interfaith Network For People of All Sexes, Sexual Orientations, Gender Identities and Expressions (GIN SSOGIE) 
  206. The May 17 Association
  207. The Regional Collective of Women who Use Drugs 
  208. The Society for Education on Contraception and Sexuality
  209. Trans Hälsoplattformen (Trans Health Platform)
  210. Trans-Dífusion Asociación Civil 
  211. Transammans 
  212. Transcontingenta
  213. Uluntu Africa 
  214. United Belize Advocacy Movement
  215. Urgent Action Fund for Feminist Activism
  216. Vaqueros CDMX
  217. Vecinas Feministas por la Justicia Sexual y Reproductiva en América Latina
  218. VIHve Libre 
  219. WO=MEN Dutch Gender Platform
  220. Women & Girls Capabilities & Empowerment Organization Nigeria 
  221. Women Enabled International
  222. Women Deliver
  223. Women for Green Economy Movement Uganda 
  224. Women for Women’s Human Rights – WWHR
  225. Women Make Movies
  226. Women’s Rehabilitation Centre
  227. Womens leadership center 
  228. Young Feminist Europe
  229. Youth Association for Development (YAD) Pakistan
  230. YUWA
  231. Zamara Foundation

[1] For example, the infamous anti-gender organization Center for Family and Human Rights welcomed the report, particularly for Alsalem’s “strong position against prostitution, as well as her criticism of some aspects of transgenderism as being harmful to women and girls,” which can be accessed via this link: https://c-fam.org/friday_fax/human-rights-expert-advocates-abolishing-prostitution-abortion-groups-upset/?utm_source=Eye+on+the+Rights&utm_campaign=f997123dbf-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_05_10_01_23_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-ce66757f0f-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=f997123dbf&mc_eid=83c36e4361

[2] She was also praised by anti-gender organization Sex Matter, which can be accessed via this link: https://sex-matters.org/posts/freedom-of-speech/let-the-un-special-rapporteur-on-vawg-deliver-her-mandate/?utm_source=Eye+on+the+Rights&utm_campaign=41bc4de84c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_05_10_01_23_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-ce66757f0f-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=41bc4de84c&mc_eid=83c36e4361

[3] The Special Rapporteur has also appeared on panels and been supported by Alliance Defending Freedom, a listed hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. https://adfinternational.org/news/un-women-in-sports

[4] On October 16, 2024, at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Southern Poverty Law Center designated anti-LGBTI hate group, Alliance Defending Freedom, co-hosted a session on “Upholding Safety and Fairness in Female Sports,” with the permanent representative of Paraguay to the UN. The event was sponsored by the governments of Cameroon, Malaysia, and Morocco, and moderated by ADF’s legal and communications director, Alyssa Koren.  Unsurprisingly, the featured speaker was the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, Reem Alsalem.

[5] Response by the SR VAWG to WHO call for inputs on proposed guidelines on the health of trans and gender diverse people. 4 January 2024. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/women/sr/statements/sr-vaw-letter-04-01-2024-04-01-2024-3.pdf 

[6] During the HRC56 interactive dialogue with the SR VAW, following the WHO’s statement outlining its evidence-based guidelines for the decriminalization of sex work and requesting the Council to consider its submissions alongside the SR’s report, the SR responded “Moving forward, I also call on different organizations, including the WHO, to do a full assessment on the consequences before continuing to adopt partially informed positions.” 9th Meeting – 56th Regular Session of the Human Rights Council. Interactive dialogue with the SR on violence against women and girls. 24 June 2024. https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1o/k1onom08en?kalturaStartTime=6589l

[7] Fried, S. T., Miller, A. M., Mallik, R., Radačić, I., & Restrepo-Saldarriaga, E. (2024). The (mis)use of evidence in contested rights: commentary on the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls’ report on “prostitution and violence.” Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, 32(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/26410397.2024.2425530

[8] World Health Organization, “Gender and Health” https://www.who.int/health-topics/gender#tab=tab_1

[9] These are: chromosomes, gonads, hormones, internal genitalia, extenral genitalia, and secondary sexual characteristics.

[10] Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, General Recommendation No. 35 (2017), Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, General Recommendation No. 12 (1989), Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, General Recommendation No. 19 (1992). “Although the Convention only refers to sex-based discrimination, interpreting article 1 together with articles 2 (f) and 5 (a) indicates that the Convention covers gender-based discrimination against women. … The application of the Convention to gender-based discrimination is made clear by the definition of discrimination contained in article 1.” Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, General Recommendation No. 28 (2010).

[11] Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, General Recommendation No. 35 (2017), pp. 2.

[12] Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences: Report celebrating 25 years of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women (2019) https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-violence-against-women/report-celebrating-25-years-mandate-special-rapporteur-violence-against-women

[13] UNGA (2024): A/79/299 Report of the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n24/235/12/pdf/n2423512.pdf , par. 74. Rosanna Flamer-Caldera v Sri Lanka (CEDAW): Views adopted by the Committee under article 7 (3) of the Optional Protocol, concerning communication No. 134/2018 Para. 11 (ii), https://www.humandignitytrust.org/wp-content/uploads/resources/CEDAW-C-81-D-134-2018-English-clean-copy.pdf

[14] A/HRC/23/50 Report on discrimination against women in public and political life with a focus on political transition (2013) para. 47.