Background and objectives

At the invitation of the Government of the United Arab Emirates, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, Ms. Reem Alsalem, will conduct an official visit to the country from 9 to 18 December 2024.

Country visits are undertaken following an invitation by the Government and are prepared and conducted in the spirit of cooperation and dialogue with the State concerned. The objective of the country visit is for the Special Rapporteur to gain a first-hand understanding of issues related to her mandate, and in particular in relation to measures taken to prevent, combat and eliminate violence against women and girls, and to provide redress for victims. Following a country visit, the Special Rapporteur presents a report to the UN Human Rights Council outlining her findings, conclusions and recommendations to the State concerned. The conclusions and recommendations provided by the Special Rapporteur are a useful tool to guide States when adopting measures to prevent and eliminate violence against women. They also serve as a roadmap for other stakeholders working on gender-based violence issues in the country, such as civil society, women’s organizations, as well as UN agencies.

The visit of the Special Rapporteur will commence in Abu Dhabi, and she will also undertake field visits, to both urban and rural areas in different regions, in order to gain a first-hand understanding of the issues related to violence against women and girls as experienced by various segments of the population. During her visit, and as a means of gathering information from all relevant stakeholders, the Special Rapporteur intends to convene meetings with Government officials; representatives from civil society organizations; women’s rights organizations; community leaders; groups of women and girls; UN agencies; and other relevant stakeholders working towards the elimination of violence against women and girls in the country.

At the end of the visit on 18 December 2024, the Special Rapporteur will debrief relevant Government officials on her preliminary findings, and in line with established practice, she will also hold a press conference in order to share the preliminary findings with the broader public. Additional information on the venue and time of the press conference will be shared prior to the visit.

Key questions and types of input/comments sought

In preparation for the visit, the Special Rapporteur invites all interested individuals and organizations, including civil society organizations, women’s rights activists, and academics to provide inputs on:

1. The adequacy of the legal and normative frameworks relating to preventing, ending, and establishing accountability for violence against women and girls and responding to the needs to assist and protect survivors of that violence;
2. Manifestations of discrimination and violence against women and girls in the UAE; and
3. Information on groups of women and girls particularly at risk of being exposed to sex and gender-based violence.

While all submissions are welcome, the Special Rapporteur is particularly interested in receiving information on the following issues (the list is not exhaustive):

• Adherence to international and regional human rights frameworks on women’s rights and the elimination of violence against women and girls based on intersecting grounds;
• The adequacy of the legal and normative framework, including on:
  1. Femicides or gender-related killings of women and girls;
  2. Domestic violence;
  3. Trafficking, exploitation and abuse of women and girls, including in prostitution and domestic labor;
  4. Equality before the law for women and girls, including in family law;
  5. Harassment and discrimination in public spaces and at work;
  6. Gender-sensitive migration policy;
  7. Online and digitally-facilitated violence against women and girls;
  8. Child marriage and forced marriage; and
  9. Discrimination and violence against women in public life, particularly in politics.
• The implementation in practice of constitutional guarantees, legal provisions and programmes aimed at eliminating violence against women and girls through strengthened capacity of municipal, regional and national representatives;
• Measures undertaken to increase the transparency, accountability, and effective participation by women and women’s organizations in the design of laws and policies related to ending discrimination and violence against women and girls and the allocation and monitoring of the spending of relevant budget, as well as the provision of effective assistance and protection for victims of gender-based violence;
• The design and implementation of policies to ensure coordinated, gender-sensitive and comprehensive essential services for the survivors of gender-based violence against women;
• Access to effective justice mechanisms and guarantees of non-repetition to ensure that perpetrators of violence are brought to justice;
• Management of shelters, protection orders and other integrated services for victims of gender-based violence against women and girls;
• The type and quality of disaggregated data that is collected and how it is used to inform policies and legislative reforms intended to improve the prevention and response to violence against all women and girls in the United Arab Emirates; and
• The approach to women, peace and security in its foreign policy, including humanitarian crises around the World.

Priority groups of women and girls

The Special Rapporteur will examine the situation of women and girls that are nationals of the UAE, foreigners as well as stateless or whose nationality cannot be determined. She will prioritize the following:

1. Skilled and unskilled workers, particularly domestic workers
2. Women and girls whose nationality cannot be determined
3. Women in politics
4. Women active in public life, including in the workspace
5. Women human rights defenders
6. Women deprived of their liberty
7. Mothers, divorcees and widows
8. Women and girls subjected to domestic violence, sexual violence
9. Women and girls that have been subjected to child or forced marriage
10. Women subjected to female genital mutilation.
11. Women and girls that have been trafficked for different forms of exploitation
12. Prostituted women and girls 

Type of submissions and how inputs will be used

All inputs will be treated confidentially by the Special Rapporteur and her team and for the sole purpose of preparing for the county visit. The Special Rapporteur greatly appreciates the effort that goes into the contributions and looks forward to reviewing the submissions.