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The United States is imposing sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, who has been critical of US ally Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said in a statement: “Today I am imposing sanctions on UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for her illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt [International Criminal Court] action against US and Israeli officials, companies, and executives.”
In a post on X, Albanese wrote that she stood “firmly and convincingly on the side of justice, as I have always done,” without directly mentioning the US sanctions. In a text message to Al Jazeera, she was quoted as dismissing the US move as “mafia-style intimidation techniques.”
Albanese, an Italian lawyer and academic, has called on states at the UN Human Rights Council to impose an arms embargo and cut off trade and financial ties with Israel while accusing the US ally of waging a “genocidal campaign” in Gaza.
In a report published earlier this month, Albanese accused over 60 companies, including major arms manufacturers and technology firms, of involvement in supporting Israeli settlements and military actions in Gaza. The report called on companies to cease dealings with Israel and to hold executives accountable for alleged violations of international law.
Albanese is among numerous independent human rights experts appointed by the United Nations to focus on particular themes and crises. The opinions shared by special rapporteurs do not represent the overall stance of the UN.
‘Rogue state behaviour’
Some rights experts criticised the US sanctions against Albanese.
Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy think tank, labelled them as “rogue state behaviour” while Amnesty International said special rapporteurs must be supported and not sanctioned.
Amnesty International’s secretary-general, Agnes Callamard, who previously served as a UN special rapporteur, stated: “Governments globally and all entities who uphold the rule-based order and international law must do everything within their capacity to reduce and counteract the impact of the sanctions imposed on Francesca Albanese and, more broadly, to safeguard the function and independence of Special Rapporteurs.”
Since returning to office in January, US President Donald Trump has stopped US engagement with the UN Human Rights Council, extended a halt to funding for the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA and ordered a review of the UN cultural agency UNESCO.
His administration imposed sanctions on four judges at the ICC in June in retaliation over the war tribunal’s issuance of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a past decision to open a case into alleged war crimes by US troops in Afghanistan.
