The silence on Gaza from countries with feminist foreign policies ‘is deafening and deeply troubling’
UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, says countries who advocate women’s rights must ‘walk the talk’, applying their principles consistently and without selective advocacy by avoiding arms transfers that facilitate the killing of Palestinian women by Israel.
Pregnant women, mothers and young girls are particularly vulnerable, she explains, as they face a sharp increase in miscarriages, malnutrition, and severe dehydration due to the dire circumstances.
“Mothers and would-be mothers have been targeted by the genocidal machine,” explains Alsalem. “They cannot even feed their newborn kids, not to mention the terror and desperation they feel because of the constant need to flee seeking safety in a place where there is no safety, the bombardments, the constant attack, the arbitrary executions, destruction of their families, family homes and with it the photos and items commemorating their family lives.”
