UK: UN expert to assess violence against women and girls

GENEVA (9 February 2024) - The UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, will undertake an official visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from 12 to 21 February 2024.

The expert will examine intersecting causes of violence against women and girls in the UK, including nationals, migrants and refugee women. She will review efforts to implement the UK's international and regional human rights commitments, as well as legal, institutional and policy frameworks in place to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. Her visit will focus on issues related to ending femicide, domestic violence, child custody issues, sexual violence and exploitation, and discrimination against women and girls based on sex, sexual orientation and gender.

Alsalem also intends to explore the extent to which survivors of violence and women’s organisations are consulted and engaged in the design and implementation of policies and legislation that seek to end and prevent sexual and gender-based violence, as well as the ability of women and girls to be active in the public sphere and exercise their freedoms of opinion, belief and expression.

She will travel to England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales to meet with government officials, political representatives, law enforcement bodies, national human rights institutions, and representatives from civil society and women's rights organisations working on issues related to violence against women and girls.

Alsalem will hold a press conference at 1300hrs on Wednesday, 21 February 2024 at the Novotel London Waterloo Hotel,113 Lambeth Rd, London SE17LS. Access will be strictly limited to journalists.