A UN special rapporteur was sanctioned by the United States over her work as an independent investigator scrutinising human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories, a high-profile role in a network of experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Francesca Albanese is among the group of experts chosen by the 47-member council in Geneva, and report to the body as a means of monitoring human rights records in various countries to assure the global observance of specific rights.
Special rapporteurs don’t represent the UN and have no formal authority. Still, their reports can step up pressure on countries, while their findings inform prosecutors at the International Criminal Court and other venues working on transnational justice cases.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement announcing sanctions against Ms Albanese on Wednesday that she “has spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel and the West.”
Ms Albanese said Thursday that she believed the sanctions were “calculated to weaken my mission”. She said at a news conference in Slovenia that “I’ll continue to do what I have to do”.
She questioned why she had been sanctioned – “for having exposed a genocide? For having denounced the system? They never challenged me on the facts.”
The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, called for a “prompt reversal” of the US sanctions. He added that “even in face of fierce disagreement, UN member states should engage substantively and constructively, rather than resort to punitive measures.”
Ms Albanese, an Italian human rights lawyer, has developed an unusually high profile as the special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, a post she has held since May 2022.
Last week, she named several large US companies among those aiding Israel as it fights a war with Hamas in Gaza, saying her report “shows why Israel’s genocide continues: because it is lucrative for many.”
Israel has long had a rocky relationship with the Human Rights Council, Ms Albanese and previous rapporteurs, accusing them of bias. It has refused to cooperate with a special “Commission of Inquiry” established following a 2021 conflict with Hamas.
Ms Albanese has been vocal about what she describes as a genocide by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel and the US, which provides military support to its close ally, have strongly denied the accusation.
In recent weeks, Ms Albanese issued a series of letters urging other countries to pressure Israel, including through sanctions, to end its deadly bombardment of the Gaza Strip. She also has been a strong supporter of arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for allegations of war crimes.
Ms Albanese said at a news conference last year that she has “always been attacked since the very beginning of my mandate,” adding that criticism wouldn’t force her to step down.
“It just infuriates me, it pisses me off, of course it does, but then it creates even more pressure not to step back,” she said. “Human rights work is first and foremost amplifying the voice of people who are not heard.”
