We would like to express our deepest gratitude for the excellent and path-breaking work carried out by Ms Reem Alsalem, during her current mandate as a Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls. It is utterly important that the position of the Special Rapporteur on a matter as crucial as male violence against women and girls is held by someone with both merits and bravery, and with the highest possible authority and standards of integrity.
Women’s organisations all over the world follow Ms Alsalem’s work and we are deeply concerned by the smear campaigns and unfounded attacks against her and her work that have recently escalated due to Ms Alsalem’s unwavering commitment to women’s human rights and her independent and objective presentations on all forms of violence against women and girls. These campaigns and attacks are only a proof that Ms. Alsalem has exposed the hard truth of the systems that normalise and justify violence against women.
With this letter we want to express our strong support for Reem Alsalem’s extremely important work. We call for a global support action to Ms Reem Alsalem by joining forces with her and supporting her mandate and independent work, sharing her reports and her coverage of critical issues and her recommendations for stopping the ever growing endemic of violence targeting women.