UN expert calls for reaffirming importance of sex in description of violence against women and girls

GENEVA – The centrality of sex in the experiences of discrimination and violence must be urgently re-established to effectively prevent and respond to the growing global phenomenon of violence against women and girls, a UN expert said today.

“Violence against women and girls is rooted in the material reality of their biological sex, which often intersects with other aspects thereby augmenting their vulnerability to violence,” said Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, in a report to the Human Rights Council.

“The failure to acknowledge this objective fact has compromised our collective ability to correctly describe and understand violence against women and girls as being violence perpetrated by males against females and to effectively respond to it,” she said.

Alsalem’s report recalls that international law recognises the centrality of sex to the lived experiences of women and girls and prohibits discrimination against them on this basis.

The Special Rapporteur added that the emphasis on sex-based forms of violence against women and girls does not undermine nor diminish the concept of gender-based violence.

“Acknowledging the centrality of sex in shaping the experiences of females does not mean locking them into biological determinism; but when sex is ignored in framing the analysis of such experiences, women and girls are rendered invisible in law, policy, research and service provision,” she said.

The report highlights how the erosion of women- and sex-specific language, and the conflation of sex with gender and gender identity, has led to flawed data, inadequate services for female victims of violence, and overall weakened protections for women and girls, including lesbians, women who do not identify as such, and girls who may be experiencing gender dysphoria. The report said it also hampers the recognition and response to emerging forms of violence based on sex, such as suicides linked to domestic violence, sex-selection before birth, the use of femicide and reproductive violence as tools of genocide and digitally facilitated forms of violence.

The Special Rapporteur called on States and relevant actors to recognise sex as central to addressing violence against women and girls, ensuring women and sex-specific terminology in law, policy, and data, and guaranteeing the right of women and girls to speak freely on these issues without fear or reprisals. She also called for prohibiting prenatal sex selection and irreversible medical interventions on minors with gender dysphoria. She also stressed the need to identify, name, and criminalize emerging forms of violence against females in the service of genocide.

Alsalem also presented a short addendum report on consent, concluding that the concept of consent in legal frameworks addressing violence against women and girls is often misapplied. It recommends that States clarify and standardise the application of consent to better protect victims and ensure accountability under international human rights law. The Special Rapporteur plans to elaborate, before the end of 2025, a more comprehensive policy brief to support States in developing robust legal standards.

The expert also presented reports following her country visits to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates.