Reem Alsalem

{{Gender}}
{{cquote|Alsalem has unfortunately dedicated her tenure to attacking trans and gender-diverse people|||International Planned Parenthood Federation and Women Deliver on behalf of over 230 women's organizations<ref name=womendeliver/>}}
'''Reem Alsalem''' {{lived|1976}} is a [[Jordan]]ian-born [[Transphobia|anti-transgender]] activist with close ties to international [[far-right]] anti-LGBTQ+ networks and the broader ecosystem around [[Trumpism|Trumpist]] think tanks, who has become a key figure of the [[TERF]] movement in the 2020s. She is known for engaging in online bullying of transgender women and for using her unpaid appointment as a special rapporteur or independent consultant on violence against women to a sub entity of the United Nations to campaign globally against [[transgender]] rights, usually invoking the authority of the [[UN]]{{efn|Her Twitter account describes her as "the person from the UN".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20230307084712/https://twitter.com/UNSRVAW Reem Alsalem UNSR Violence Against Women and Girls @UNSRVAW] ''Twitter'' (archived from December 9, 2022).</ref>}} to give legitimacy to anti-trans [[junk science]] and [[propaganda]].<ref name=Report/><ref name="Sprayregen"/><ref name="Adamczeski"/> She has aligned herself with the TERF movement and the broader transnational [[anti-gender]] movement,<ref name=genevasolutions>[https://genevasolutions.news/human-rights/un-expert-wants-to-make-women-s-rights-about-biology-campaigners-warn-its-anti-gender-rhetoric UN expert wants to make women’s rights about biology. Campaigners warn it's anti-gender rhetoric]</ref> supported its talking points and prominent figures and groups within the movement, including [[FiLiA]] and [[Women's Declaration International]] (WDI).<ref name=Report/> Her [[Twitter]] account "[maintains] a steady stream of anti-trans [[propaganda]]."<ref name=Report/> The Biden-era U.S. State Department pointedly told Alsalem in 2024 that while the U.S. is "deeply troubled by the spread of online harassment, abuse, and gendered disinformation" targeting women and girls, "we were dismayed during the Olympics to see you engage in similar behavior: spreading false and harmful information about the gender of Algerian boxer {{wpl|Imane Khelif}}."<ref name=StateDepartment/>

She is a close ally of the [[Alliance Defending Freedom]] (ADF), a far-right [[SPLC]]-designated anti-LGBT+ hate group. She has both cited ADF in her reports,<ref name=Alsalem2025/> appeared at several of their events,<ref name=womendeliver/> and is regularly praised by ADF. As a featured speaker at a 2025 event in support of "{{wpl|Parental rights movement|parental rights}}," co-hosted by ADF, [[The Heritage Foundation]] and the [[Viktor Orbán|Orbán]] government of Hungary, she opposed the right of minors to access gender transition-related care and comprehensive sexuality education.<ref name=ADF2/> In 2025 she called for a ban on legal and social gender transition for children and for states to "ensure that the terms ‘women’ and ‘girls’ are only used to describe biological females."<ref name=Alsalem2025/><ref name=thecatholicherald/> She has also voiced explicit support for {{wpl|persecution of transgender people under the second Trump administration|Trump's persecution of transgender people}}.<ref name=cbn/>

Alsalem has been described by scholars as a central actor in global [[anti-gender]] and [[transphobia|anti-trans]] mobilizations within international legal institutions.<ref name=Duffy2024/><ref name=Zwingel/><ref name="Theilen"/> However, she remains a fringe figure in human rights and UN contexts, and reportedly the office responsible for the special rapporteur mechanism has sometimes pushed back against publishing her statements, while she has been rebuked by various UN officials. Her promotion of anti-trans hate in the name of the UN has been condemned by hundreds of feminist and human rights groups, including [[Amnesty International]] and the {{wpl|International Commission of Jurists}}.<ref name=awid/><ref name=womendeliver/><ref name=Amnestyandothers/> Perhaps most notably, her positions were criticized by other UN human rights experts, including their highest-ranking expert, the {{wpl|United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights||.}}<ref name="bbc"/> The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention situated her discourse "within the quickly spreading global wave of transphobic and interphobic genocidal language" and said she "cherry-picks disinformation to serve an anti-trans agenda."<ref name=Lemkin/>

==Activities==
She has appeared at the anti-trans FiLiA conference,<ref>{{cite news |title=JK Rowling speaks at FiLiA feminist conference labelled 'transphobic' |url=https://www.thenational.scot/news/23857658.jk-rowling-speaks-filia-feminist-conference-labelled-transphobic/ |access-date=9 February 2024 |work=The National}}</ref> campaigned against legal [[gender]] recognition for trans people in [[Scotland]] and claimed that it could "open the door for violent males".<ref name="bbc"/> She has campaigned against rights protections for trans people in the [[United States]] in the name of the United Nations,<ref>[https://catholicvote.org/united-nations-urges-biden-administration-to-prevent-men-from-competing-in-womens-athletics/ United Nations Urges Biden Administration to Prevent Men from Competing in Women’s Athletics], Catholic Vote</ref> and promoted the TERF talking point that criticism of the TERF movement constitutes "silencing and [[Misogyny|vilification of women]]."<ref>[https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/05/the-silencing-and-vilification-of-women-and-girls/ The silencing and vilification of women and girls]</ref>

In 2024 Alsalem addressed a panel organized by [[Alliance Defending Freedom]] (ADF), an [[SPLC]]-designated anti-LGBT+ {{wpl|hate group}}, that called for "female-only" sports and the exclusion of transgender women.<ref name=adf>{{cite news |title=Collegiate and Olympic athletes, global human rights leaders call on UN to protect safety and fairness for women in sports |url=https://adfinternational.org/news/un-women-in-sports|access-date=15 October 2025 |publisher=Alliance Defending Freedom}}</ref><ref name=aol>{{cite news |title=United Nations holds panel on fighting violence against women and girls in sports |url=https://www.aol.com/news/united-nations-holds-panel-fighting-090058215.html?guccounter=1 |work=AOL}}</ref> She has also cited ADF in support of her arguments in her reports.<ref name=Alsalem2025/> ADF has also published statements strongly supporting Alsalem.<ref>{{cite web |title=UN Expert Calls for Global Ban on Surrogacy in Landmark Report |url=https://adfinternational.org/news/un-expert-calls-for-global-ban-on-surrogacy-in-landmark-report-women-and-children-are-being-treated-as-commodities |publisher=Alliance Defending Freedom |access-date=18 October 2025}}</ref> In September 2025 Alsalem was a featured speaker at an event organized by ADF and [[The Heritage Foundation]] in collaboration with the [[Viktor Orbán|Orbán]] government of Hungary that supported "{{wpl|Parental rights movement|parental rights}}," and where she opposed the right of minors to access gender transition-related care and comprehensive sexuality education.<ref name=ADF2>{{cite news |title=UN Expert: Vilification of Parents Protecting Children From Gender Transition is “Disturbing” |url=https://adfinternational.org/news/un-expert-protect-parental-rights |access-date=18 October 2025 |work=Alliance Defending Freedom}}</ref>

Alsalem has also met with Eugenia Roccella, who represents the Brothers of Italy party led by [[Giorgia Meloni]].<ref>[https://x.com/UNSRVAW/status/1975634136158396494 Alsalem meeting Eugenia Roccella of the Italian fascist party]</ref>

Alsalem has also appeared at events organized by Morality in Media (now rebranded {{wpl|National Center on Sexual Exploitation}}),<ref>[https://x.com/ModelRevealed/status/1814209362480468218 NCOSE, formerly known as "Morality in Media", is a religious organisation which pushes for anti-gay policies.]</ref> a Christian far-right anti-LGBTQ+ hate group known for promoting anti-gay policies in Africa.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/30/us-far-right-group-influencing-anti-gay-policy-africa Revealed: how a US far-right group is influencing anti-gay policies in Africa], ''The Guardian'', 30 May 2024</ref>

In 2024 Alsalem released a report that called for "sex screening" in sport to allegedly protect a "female-only category" and exclude those not born female,<ref>{{cite news |title=U.N. Special Rapporteur calls for re-introduction of "sex screening" to protect women's category |url=https://www.thesportsexaminer.com/women-in-sport-u-n-special-rapporteur-calls-for-re-introduction-of-sex-screening-to-protect-womens-category/ |access-date=9 October 2024 |work=thesportsexaminer}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Athletes not born female shouldn't be able to compete in women's sport, UN expert says |url=https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/athletes-not-born-female-shouldn-t-be-able-to-compete-in-women-s-sport-un-expert-says/ar-AA1rBjT3 |access-date=9 October 2024 |work=msn}}</ref> and that said women are "entitled to single-sex spaces."<ref>{{cite news |title=UN special rapporteur's report declares women are 'entitled to single-sex spaces' |url=https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/peta-credlin/un-special-rapporteurs-report-declares-women-are-entitled-to-singlesex-spaces/video/2a760005e7084f0874dd2073811ac5d2 |access-date=9 October 2024 |work=Sky}}</ref> The U.S. Department of State said the report "erroneously conflate[s] transgender persons with intersex persons or others with naturally occurring variations in sex characteristics, and use[s] demeaning language to refer to transgender persons," and added that while the U.S. is "deeply troubled by the spread of online harassment, abuse, and gendered disinformation" targeting women and girls, "we were dismayed during the Olympics to see you engage in similar behavior: spreading false and harmful information about the gender of Algerian boxer {{wpl|Imane Khelif}}."<ref name=StateDepartment>{{cite web |title=Remarks at a Third Committee Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls, Ms. Reem Alsalem |url=https://usun.usmission.gov/remarks-at-a-third-committee-interactive-dialogue-with-the-special-rapporteur-on-violence-against-women-and-girls-ms-reem-alsalem/ |publisher=United States Department of State|access-date=9 October 2024|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20250113222057/https://usun.usmission.gov/remarks-at-a-third-committee-interactive-dialogue-with-the-special-rapporteur-on-violence-against-women-and-girls-ms-reem-alsalem/|archivedate=2025-01-13}}</ref>

In 2024 Alsalem also criticized the Self-Determination Act that entered into force in Germany.<ref>{{cite web |title=Germany: Gender self-ID law fails to address implications for women and girls, says Special Rapporteur |url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/10/germany-gender-self-id-law-fails-address-implications-women-and-girls-says}}</ref>

In 2025, Alsalem supported [[Donald Trump]]'s executive order "{{wpl|Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports}}," which calls transgender women "men" and attempts to ban them from women's sports, and which had been condemned by [[Amnesty International]] as "yet another cruel attack on transgender people."<ref name=cbn>{{cite news |title=UN expert hails Trump ban on trans athletes in women's sports |url=https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/2/13/un-expert-hails-trump-ban-on-trans-athletes-in-women-s-sports-1240}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=UN expert hails Trump ban on trans athletes in women's sports |url=https://sport.timesofmalta.com/2025/02/13/un-expert-hails-trump-ban-on-trans-athletes-in-womens-sports/}}</ref>

In 2025 Alsalem presented her report "Sex-based violence against women and girls", that called for a ban on legal and social gender transition for children. It also called on states to "ensure that the terms ‘women’ and ‘girls’ are only used to describe biological females and that such a meaning is recognised in law" and referred to [[trans women]] as "males who identify as women or girls." She further wrote that "there has been a concerted international push to delink the definition of men and women from their biological sex and erase the legal category of “women”". She described legal and linguistic practices that include transgender women as women as “a form of 'coercive inclusion' that relies on the expectation that women will be kind enough to sacrifice their own recognition and protection for the sake of others". She cited examples such as the adoption of "neutral language" and the "[reinterpretation] of sex-specific language to refer to gender identity rather than sex". She also rejected the framing of what she referred to as "material reality" as biological essentialism. Her report extensively cites hate groups such as [[Women's Declaration International]], [[LGB Alliance]] and [[For Women Scotland]] in support of its arguments.<ref name=Alsalem2025>{{cite web |last1=Alsalem |first1=Reem |title=Sex-based violence against women and girls |url=https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session59/advance-version/a-hrc-59-47-aev.pdf |access-date=26 June 2025}}</ref> Alsalem was praised by [[Alliance Defending Freedom]] for resisting "[[gender ideology]]".<ref name=thecatholicherald>{{cite news |title=UN reports calls on governments to prohibit ‘gender transition’ for children |url=https://thecatholicherald.com/un-reports-calls-on-governments-to-prohibit-gender-transition-for-children/ |access-date=26 June 2025 |work=The Catholic Herald}}</ref> The report was criticized by researchers and LGBT advocates such as the [[Human Rights Campaign]].<ref name="Sprayregen">{{Cite news |last=Sprayregen |first=Molly |date=July 15, 2025 |title=United Nations appointee cites hate groups & junk science in report disparaging trans youth |url=https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/07/united-nations-human-rights-council-cites-hate-groups-junk-science-to-disparage-trans-youth/ |access-date=2025-07-18 |work=LGBTQ Nation |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Adamczeski">{{Cite news |last=Adamczeski |first=Ryan |date=July 15, 2025 |title=U.N. draft report uses pseudoscience to claim gender dysphoria is 'socially contagious' |url=https://www.advocate.com/news/un-draft-report-gender-dysphoria |access-date=2025-07-18 |work=The Advocate |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Hansford">{{Cite news |last=Hansford |first=Amelia |date=2025-07-15 |title=UN draft report claims gender dysphoria is 'socially contagious' |url=https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/07/15/un-gender-draft-report-socially-contagious/ |access-date=2025-07-18 |work=The Pink News |language=en-US}}</ref> The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention said it was "appalled" by the report and that "in addition to situating itself within the quickly spreading global wave of transphobic and interphobic genocidal language, the Report is blatantly ignorant of basic biological concepts and purposely misleads the reader. [Alsalem] cherry-picks disinformation to serve an anti-trans agenda—and even misattributes such disinformation to reputable sources on more than one occasion."<ref name=Lemkin>{{cite web |title=Statement on the Transphobic UN Report on Violence Against Women and Girls |url=https://www.lemkininstitute.com/statements-new-page/statement-on-the-transphobic-un-report-on-violence-against-women-and-girls |publisher=[[Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention]] |date=17 October 2025}}</ref>

Alsalem has claimed "[[Gender critical|gender-critical]]" activists are subjected to "smear campaigns" and branded as "Nazis", "genocidaires" or "extremists."<ref>{{cite web |title=Statement by Ms. Reem Alsalem |url=https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/women/sr/statements/2023-05-19-statement-sr-vawg.pdf |access-date=9 October 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=UN calls out intimidation of gender-critical feminists |url=https://unherd.com/newsroom/un-calls-out-intimidation-of-gender-critical-feminists/ |access-date=9 October 2024 |work=unherd}}</ref>

==Criticism==
Her anti-trans views have been widely criticized by academics, [[feminists]], human rights groups, and governments.

Legal scholar Sandra Duffy cites Alsalem's promotion of gender-critical views as a prominent instance of [[anti-gender]] lobbying against transgender rights in the United Kingdom, observing that her intervention, made eleven days after the United Nations Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity warned of the hostile climate facing transgender people, seemed intended as a pointed rebuttal.<ref name=Duffy2024>{{cite book
 |last1=Duffy
 |first1=S. A.
 |year=2024
 |chapter=‘Ideological Colonising’: The Influence of Anti-Gender Movements on Domestic and International Human Rights Law
 |editor-last1=Paige
 |editor-first1=T. P.
 |editor-last2=O'Hara
 |editor-first2=C.
 |title=Queer Encounters with International Law: Lives, Communities, Subjectivities
 |publisher=Routledge
 |pages=175–199
 |doi=10.4324/9781032643106-12
}}</ref> Feminist scholars Susanne Zwingel, Brianna N. Hernandez and Luisa Turbino Torres describe Alsalem as an anti-trans actor within the UN system who has "consistently argued for further barriers and restrictions on legal gender recognition that undercut the rights of transgender individuals."<ref name=Zwingel>{{cite book
 |title=Feminist Responses to Crises and Dehumanization: Transnational Scholar-Activist Perspectives
 |last1=Zwingel
 |first1=Susanne
 |last2=Hernandez
 |first2=Brianna N.
 |last3=Turbino Torres
 |first3=Luisa
 |publisher=Routledge
 |date=2025
 |isbn=9781032805382
}}</ref> Legal scholars Tamsin Phillipa Paige and Claerwen O'Hara describe Alsalem as part of an increasingly aggressive anti-queer and transphobic movement that is now active also in legal circles.<ref>{{cite book
 |last1=Paige
 |first1=Tamsin Phillipa
 |last2=O'Hara
 |first2=Claerwen
 |year=2024
 |chapter=(Re)queering international law
 |editor-last1=Paige
 |editor-first1=T. P.
 |editor-last2=O'Hara
 |editor-first2=C.
 |title=Queer Encounters with International Law: Lives, Communities, Subjectivities
 |publisher=Routledge
 |pages=1–12
 |doi=10.4324/9781032643106-1
}}</ref>

Six large Scottish feminist NGOs including {{wpl|Engender||,}} {{wpl|Scottish Women's Aid||,}} and {{wpl|Rape Crisis Scotland}} criticized her statements regarding gender recognition in Scotland and said she had failed to speak with Scottish feminists.<ref>{{cite news |title=Scottish feminists hit back at UN gender recognition warning |url=https://www.thenational.scot/news/23160294.scottish-feminists-hit-back-un-gender-recognition-warning/ |work=The National}}</ref> An open letter by the {{wpl|Association for Women's Rights in Development||,}} co-signed by 550 women's rights and [[human rights]] organizations, criticized her statements and said "there is no place for anti-trans agendas in the United Nations." The letter was signed by {{wpl|International Planned Parenthood Federation||,}} the {{wpl|Women's International League for Peace and Freedom||,}} the {{wpl|Women's Refugee Commission||,}} {{wpl|Women Deliver||,}} the International Network on Violence against Women and Girls, Women in Development Europe (WIDE+), End Rape on Campus, Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition, {{wpl|Humanists International||,}} Indigenous Women Legal Awareness Group, {{wpl|Global Justice Center||,}} the {{wpl|National Council of German Women's Organizations||,}} {{wpl|Kvinna till Kvinna||,}} Stockholm Pride, {{wpl|ILGA World||,}} {{wpl|Transgender Europe||,}} the Society of Gender Professionals, and the {{wpl|University of Geneva||.}}<ref name=awid>{{cite web |title=There Is No Place for Anti-Trans Agendas in the UN |url=https://www.awid.org/news-and-analysis/there-no-place-anti-trans-agendas-un |publisher=Association for Women's Rights in Development}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=AWID issues a statement against 'anti-trans agendas' at the UN |url=https://nonprofit.xarxanet.org/news/awid-issues-statement-against-anti-trans-agendas-un |work=Carxanet}}</ref> Legal scholar Jens Theilen argued that Alsalem "is using women’s rights as a tool to undermine trans rights" and considered her actions "a stark example of individual politics furthering rather than contesting oppression."<ref name=Theilen>{{cite journal |last1=Theilen |first1=Jens |title=Intersectionality’s Travels to International Human Rights Law |journal=Michigan Journal of International Law |date=2024 |volume=45 |issue=2 |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4504732|quote=A stark example of individual politics furthering rather than contesting oppression is found in the work of the current Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, Reem Alsalem, who is using women’s rights as a tool to undermine trans rights; see the protest letter AWID, There Is No Place for Anti-Trans Agendas in the UN (2023)}}</ref>

In January 2025, International Planned Parenthood Federation and Women Deliver on behalf of over 230 women's organizations released an open letter that said Alsalem "has unfortunately dedicated her tenure to attacking trans and gender-diverse people" and that her rhetoric "undermines decades of progress in advancing human rights and gender equality and risks confining cisgender women to patriarchal, protectionist policies by interpreting violence as rooted in biology (and) marginalizes vulnerable groups, including trans and gender-diverse persons, increasing the risk of violence and hatred."<ref name=womendeliver>{{cite web |title=Joint Statement Concerning the Call for Input by the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls |url=https://womendeliver.org/press/joint-statement-concerning-the-call-for-input-by-the-special-rapporteur-on-violence-against-women-and-girls/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Joint Statement Concerning the Call for Input by the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls |url=https://www.ippf.org/blogs/sign-joint-statement-concerning-call-input-special-rapporteur-violence-against-women-and}}</ref>

In June 2025, [[Amnesty International]], the {{wpl|International Commission of Jurists}}, {{wpl|Plan International}}, the {{wpl|Global Justice Center}}, Women Deliver, and other organizations criticized Alsalem for excluding a gender analysis in efforts to address violence against women and girls. They argued this approach undermines international legal standards, risks marginalizing vulnerable groups, and ignores the root causes of gender-based violence. The organizations urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to reject rollbacks in language and principles that impact real lives and called on Alsalem to recommit to inclusive, evidence-based, and intersectional human rights frameworks. They emphasized that human rights are indivisible and that addressing gender-based violence requires recognizing the intersection of sex and gender in lived experiences, in order to "address gender-based violence against women and girls in all their diversity."<ref name=Amnestyandothers>{{cite web |title=Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls |url=https://www.globaljusticecenter.net/oral-statement-interactive-dialogue-with-the-special-rapporteur-on-violence-against-women-and-girls/ |publisher=[[Global Justice Center]] |access-date=26 June 2025}}</ref>

An extensive report into the WDI movement, titled ''Rights For Me, Not For Thee: How Anti-Trans Feminists Took Their Advocacy to the United Nations'', said that "WDI and their supporters saw their biggest success in late 2022: getting the ear of Reem Alsalem" and that "her official [[Twitter]] account [maintains] a steady stream of anti-trans [[propaganda]]."<ref name=Report>{{cite web|url=https://allornone.world/2023/05/26/rights-for-me-not-for-thee-how-anti-trans-feminists-took-their-advocacy-to-the-united-nations/|title=Rights For Me, Not For Thee: How Anti-Trans Feminists Took Their Advocacy to the United Nations|quote=While their past attempts had failed, WDI and their supporters saw their biggest success in late 2022: getting the ear of Reem Alsalem}}</ref>>

Her anti-trans views have also been criticized by the {{wpl|United Nations Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity||,}} {{wpl|Victor Madrigal-Borloz||,}} and the {{wpl|United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights||,}} who said that "everyone&nbsp;— and that includes trans women&nbsp;— should have access to legal recognition of their [[gender identity]] based on self-identification."<ref name="bbc">{{cite news |title=UN chief backs Scottish government's gender recognition reforms |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-63993415 |access-date=11 February 2024 |work=BBC}}</ref>

In 2024 anti-trans website 4W reported that she had effectively been disinvited by the Brazilian government due to her transphobia.<ref>[https://4w.pub/leaked-audio-reveals-reem-alsalem-2023-brazil-visit-indefinitely-postponed-due-to-alleged-transphobia/ Leaked Audio Reveals Reem Alsalem 2023 Brazil Visit “Indefinitely Postponed” Due to Alleged “Transphobia”]</ref>

Many recognized feminist and human rights groups have ceased all engagement with Alsalem, citing a risk of being misrepresented in her reports,<ref name=genevasolutions/> which tend to cite far-right anti-trans groups like WDI in support of her views while polemicizing against and ridiculing submissions by mainstream and trans-inclusive NGOs.

Legal and feminist scholars Susana T. Fried, Alice M. Miller, Rupsa Mallik, Ivana Radačić and Esteban Restrepo-Saldarriaga wrote that Alsalem misused evidence and ignored dissenting voices in her report on "prostitution and violence"; they wrote that "there is no agreement in international human rights law about what laws best protect the rights of people who sell sex" and that "evidence is strong that criminal law making both the buying and selling of sex a crime hurts the very people who are most at risk".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fried |first1=Susana T. |title=The (mis)use of evidence in contested rights: commentary on the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls' report on "prostitution and violence" |journal=Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters |date=2024 |volume=32 |issue=1 |doi=10.1080/26410397.2024.2425530 |pmid=39513331 |pmc=11613358 }}</ref> Alsalem chose to publish her response to their paper in a fringe anti-trans journal run by anti-trans writer {{wpl|Donna M. Hughes}} and whose editorial board includes WDI's Kara Dansky and Heather Brunskell-Evans. Alsalem's reply was titled "Response to a Political Critique and Personal Attack Against a United Nations Report that Presented New Evidence About Prostitution as a Cause and Consequence of Violence Against Women and Girls."<ref>Reem Alsalem (2025). [https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/dignity/vol10/iss1/6/ Response to a Political Critique and Personal Attack Against a United Nations Report that Presented New Evidence About Prostitution as a Cause and Consequence of Violence Against Women and Girls]. Dignity.</ref>

Alsalem herself said in 2025 that she has faced "relentless" opposition from governments, international organizations and civil society over her trans-related views, and that those critics had called her regressive, racist, transphobic, and fascist.<ref name=Alsalem2025-2>{{cite web |title=Disregarding the material reality of sex can have devastating effects, says Reem Alsalem |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMWH96JjSWo |publisher=UN Human Rights Council }}</ref> The Catholic Zenit News Agency also wrote that Alsalem has been "ostracized by the global women's rights establishment" because she opposes "[[gender ideology]]," and that she has faced strong criticism both from women's organizations and within the UN system for her views on trans people.<ref name=zenit>{{cite news |title=Alsalem has been ostracized by the global women's rights establishment |url=https://zenit.org/2025/07/27/un-womens-rights-czar-fights-back-against-trans-feminist-smears/ |work=Zenit News Agency}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alsalem, Reem}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:TERFs]]
[[Category:Transphobia]]
[[Category:United Nations]]

Categories: Living people, TERFs, Transphobia, United Nations