UN expert on violence against women and girls to visit Poland

GENEVA (24 February 2023) – UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, will visit Poland from 27 February to 9 March 2023.

The UN expert will review efforts to implement Poland's international and regional commitments, as well as the legal, institutional and policy frameworks in place to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. She will focus on issues related to ending femicide, domestic violence, trafficking, sexual violence and exploitation, and access to sexual and reproductive rights.

Alsalem will examine the systemic causes of gender-based violence in Poland. She will assess the situation of adolescent girls, women, and girls from ethnic minority groups, women refugees and migrants, women and girls with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, as well as women active in the public sphere, including human rights defenders, politicians and journalists.

During her visit, the Special Rapporteur will visit Warsaw, Lublin, Krakow and Gdansk and meet with officials from the Government, law enforcement bodies, the UN, the EU, international development agencies, the national human rights institution, as well as members of civil society and women's rights organisations.

Alsalem will hold a press conference to share preliminary findings on Thursday 9 March at 12:00 PM at the Radisson Blu Sobieski Hotel in Warsaw. Access will be strictly limited to accredited journalists.

The Special Rapporteur will present her report to the Human Rights Council in June 2024.

ENDS

Ms. Reem Alsalem (Jordan) was appointed as Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences by the UN Human Rights Council in July 2021, to recommend measures, ways and means, at the national, regional and international levels, to eliminate violence against women and its causes, and to remedy its consequences. She is an independent consultant on gender issues, the rights of refugees and migrants, transitional justice and humanitarian response. She holds a Master’s in International Relations from the American University in Cairo, Egypt (2001) and a Master’s in Human Rights Law from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (2003).

The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.