FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Exposed by UN Watch Report, Reem Alsalem Justifies $70,000 Funding From Saudi Regime
GENEVA, June 22, 2026 — A United Nations expert on violence against women has defended her acceptance of $170,000 in funding from Saudi Arabia and a Gulf Arab bloc after a watchdog group questioned whether the donations undermine the independence of her mandate.
The controversy arose after UN Watch published a report showing that the office of UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women Reem Alsalem received $70,000 from Saudi Arabia in 2024, and the next year $100,000 from the Gulf Cooperation Council, which comprises Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.
Under mounting pressure for taking funding from regimes like Saudi Arabia that violate women’s rights, Alsalem responded to the UN Watch report today by releasing her first-ever statement about her sources of funding, arguing that the contributions were disclosed under UN transparency rules, administered by the UN human rights office, and did not influence her work.
In response, UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer issued the following statement:
Reem Alsalem’s statement fails to answer the one question that matters: Why is the office of a UN defender of women’s rights taking money from Saudi Arabia?
Her statement spans three pages, quoting UN regulations at length, yet she fails to confront the central fact: her mandate accepted $70,000 from Saudi Arabia in 2024, and another $100,000 from a bloc that includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, and the UAE — governments that have long been criticized by international human rights organizations for discrimination against women, unequal family laws, restrictions on women’s autonomy, and inadequate protections against gender-based violence.
Remarkably, Ms. Alsalem’s statement never mentions Saudi Arabia even once.
She never explains why victims of discrimination and abuse in those countries should have confidence in a UN women’s rights mandate financed by their governments.
Instead, she argues that the funding is permitted under UN rules, disclosed publicly, and administered through the UN human rights office.
That misses the point entirely. No one alleged that Saudi Arabia deposited money into Ms. Alsalem’s personal bank account. No one alleged that Saudi officials write her reports. Those are straw-man arguments.
The issue is not personal corruption, but institutional credibility.
Judges are expected to avoid conflicts of interest. Prosecutors are expected to avoid conflicts of interest. Auditors are expected to avoid conflicts of interest. Most importantly, they are expected to avoid even the appearance of conflicts of interest.
Why should UN Special Rapporteurs be held to a lower standard?
Saudi Arabia and the GCC did not donate to a women’s shelter. They donated to an influential UN mandate whose authority depends entirely on claims of independence and impartiality.
That creates an obvious problem.
Governments with controversial records on women’s rights are transformed from subjects of scrutiny into financial sponsors of the international system that scrutinizes them. Alsalem allows them to gain prestige, legitimacy, and the ability to portray themselves as patrons of women’s rights.
Most troublingly, Ms. Alsalem’s statement displays no awareness whatsoever of how this appears to victims. Imagine being a Saudi woman jailed for demanding equal rights under discriminatory laws, or seeking protection from gender-based violence, while your government is helping finance the activities of the UN official charged with defending women’s rights worldwide.
The appearance problem is glaring. Ms. Alsalem insists that donors exert no influence over her work. But independence is not established by declaration. It must be demonstrated through structures that inspire public confidence.
Her statement repeatedly explains why this funding is allowed. It never explains why it is appropriate.
The issue was never bookkeeping, but judgment. The world is entitled to ask why the UN’s top official on violence against women accepted funding from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Ms. Alsalem’s rambling 3-page statement glaringly fails to answer that question.
