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

Reem Alsalem, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls, Its Causes and Consequences, responses to the false and unfounded accusations and personal attacks on her Report on Prostitution and Violence Against Women presented before the 56th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, 2024. I presented new evidence regarding the relationship between violence against women and girls and prostitution. Using human rights law, the Report described how prostitution is a system of abuse, exploitation, and violence against women and girls. The Report’s goal was to clarify concepts and terminology, to describe the root causes and consequences of prostitution. The report’s success lies in breaking the domination of the one-sided narrative that was largely imposed by powerful lobbies and interest groups that benefit from the exploitation and abuse of women’s bodies and seek to legitimize it. When prostituted women’s testimonies are given the weight they deserve; when the data is allowed to speak for itself, it is clear that prostitution is a system of violence against women and girls.