"The killing of Palestinian women is not merely femicide—it is femi-genocide” UN Special Rapporteur

On 30 October 2025, the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People organized a virtual briefing titled “Safeguarding Human Rights, Ensuring Accountability and Ending the Unlawful Occupation of Palestine”. Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls, began by expressing that it was “alarming and shameful” that Palestinians, including women and girls, continued to be killed despite a ceasefire. She described documenting the past two years as “a challenge beyond description,” and concluded that existing legal language does not adequately capture the “monstrosity and scale” of violence against Palestinian women and girls. She argued their deliberate targeting served the intent to destroy Palestinians “in whole or in part,” and therefore required terminology beyond “femicide.” She adopted “feminicide” to reflect mass killing rooted in racial, colonial, and patriarchal structures and linked to genocidal objectives. Ms. Alsalem underscored widespread sexual violence, torture, forced disappearance, reproductive violence, and the systematic destruction of maternity and reproductive health services. She cited South Africa’s ICJ filing and COI findings that reproductive violence was used “as a genocidal tool,” noting that targeting reproductive capacity meets legal thresholds under the Genocide Convention. She warned that silence and hesitation from states, including those with feminist foreign policies, expose “double standards” and a global regression in protecting women’s rights. She stressed that accountability mechanisms must address the specific experience of Palestinian women, noting ICJ and General Assembly decisions have been “sex and gender blind.” She closed by emphasizing consequences beyond Palestine, warning that “what happens in Palestine does not stay in Palestine,” and that normalization of brutality is already visible in other crises, such as Sudan. More details: https://www.un.org/unispal/committee-... Watch the complete event:    • “No Peace Without Accountability” - From C...