UN expert wants to make women’s rights about biology. Campaigners warn it’s anti-gender rhetoric
A special rapporteur’s claim that biological sex is to blame for violence faced by women and girls sparked pushback from states and advocates at the Human Rights Council who warn it risks rolling back hard-won protections for women and LGBTQI people.
Special rapporteurs are typically known for pushing human rights boundaries forward. But Reem Alsalem, the current UN expert on violence against women and girls, appears to be pulling in the opposite direction. Her outspoken opposition to gender self-identification laws and trans women’s participation in women’s sports, along with her calls to abolish sex work, have long drawn outcry from civil society and stirred unease within the UN system itself.
International and Comparative SOGIESC Law - Professor Andreas R Ziegler 