The Global Network on the Question of Palestine (GNQP) condemns in the strongest possible terms the 9 July 2025 sanctions imposed by the United States against Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. These sanctions are politically motivated and legally indefensible. They represent a direct threat to the integrity and independence of international human rights mechanisms.
The timing of these sanctions is especially alarming. They were announced soon after Francesca Albanese published her report to the Human Rights Council, in which she analyses and documents corporate complicity throughout Israel’s genocide in Gaza. This is an apparent breach of international law, including by 60 named corporations profiting from the ongoing genocide. In keeping with her mandate, Ms. Albanese formally recommended that the ICC investigate and possibly prosecute such complicit corporate actors.
The system of Special Procedures is a central component of the United Nations human rights system within which Special Rapporteurs play an indispensable role. In 1999, the International Court of Justice held that UN Special Rapporteurs are to be considered “experts on missions for the United Nations”, within the definition provided by section 22 of the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities. As such, they are entitled to the Convention’s privileges and immunities, including immunity from “legal process of every kind” for statements and actions carried out in the exercise of their functions.
In 2011, the Human Rights Council adopted HCR/Res/16/21 (Document Viewer), which:
- reaffirmed the obligation of States to “cooperate with and assist special procedures in the performance of their tasks” (para. 23);
- noted that the “integrity and independence of the special procedures and the principles of cooperation, transparency and accountability are integral to ensuring a robust system of the special procedures that would enhance the capacity of the Council to address human rights situations on the ground.” (para. 24)
Cooperation by States is imperative for Special Rapporteurs to implement their mandates without fearing retaliatory and diversionary moves by governments whose actions they have criticised. Furthermore, States must refrain from mobilising and encouraging others to criticise and incite action against Special Rapporteurs. As a condition of membership, all 193 UN member states have agreed to respect international law, the UN Charter, and to protect UN personnel in their course of discharging their formal duties. An added responsibility exists for the over 150 states, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, that are parties to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Ms. Albanese has been sanctioned for upholding most effectively the responsibilities entrusted to her by the Human Rights Council, which has recently reaffirmed its confidence in her by extending her mandate for a second three-year term. The justifications for the sanctions lack all merit in international law besides containing errors of fact and demonstrably false allegations demeaning of the person and reputation of Ms. Albanese.
These sanctions violate international legal norms and threaten the well-established rules of functional immunity that protect UN experts from reprisals while carrying out their official duties, in particular immunity from “legal process of every kind” under section 22(b) of the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities. Such measures against Ms. Albanese as Special Rapporteur may constitute an unlawful act of extraterritorial coercion, for which the U.S. should itself be held internationally accountable. The attack on Ms. Albanese follows the February 2025 imposition of U.S. sanctions against the International Criminal Court’s Chief Prosecutor and four of its judges. These actions exhibit an unacceptable pattern of disregard for international law and established international procedures and institutions. The ICC measures are designed to protect victims of human rights abuses and should be respected by Israel and United States even though they are not parties to the Rome Statute that provides a legal framework for ICC operations.
Rather than abide by their obligations and engage with the extremely significant conclusions and related recommendations of the Special Rapporteur’s latest report, the US has resorted to reprisals which it has effectively admitted are motivated by prioritizing its economic and political strategic interests over its obligations under international law. This unilateral action is part of a broader effort to weaken and control the UN and other international accountability and reporting mechanisms that seek to protect vulnerable populations and uphold justice, including when they contravene strategic interests.
The United States’ sanctions seem deliberately designed to undermine the essential work of Special Rapporteurs in highlighting the flagrant, severe, and prolonged crimes committed by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza as well as well as to shield complicit states and corporations from all forms of accountability. In effect, these actors facilitate the commission of the most serious of international crimes, not only by funding and supplying the perpetrator, Israel, but also by their visible and back-channel efforts to discredit and dilute efforts to expose such international crimes and recommend punitive responses. As the International Court of Justice’s findings have made clear, stopping such crimes engages the legal responsibility of all states, not just those accused of perpetrating the crime.
Special Rapporteur Ms. Albanese has been a highly praised mandate holder in what is perhaps the most controversial position within the Special Procedures framework of the Human Rights Council. She has carried out her difficult role in a thoroughly professional manner, celebrated worldwide as an influential and expert advocate of human rights for decades, particularly on behalf of those most victimized. Prior to becoming Special Rapporteur, she worked for a decade as a human rights expert for the United Nations, including in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and with the Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees. Her record bears eloquent witness to her exceptional competence, experience, and integrity under fire, undoubted factors in her selection as Special Rapporteur for this ultra-sensitive position by the Human Rights Council.
Unwarranted attacks on and punitive actions directed at a Special Rapporteur that appear motivated by the geopolitical interests of states are unacceptable and unlawful. They should be formally repudiated. We call upon the UN, the Human Rights Council, and Member States, to take as matters of urgency the following steps:
- give due consideration to the carefully articulated recommendations made in the Special Rapporteur’s various reports on Occupied Palestine, especially the sections specifically addressing accusations of Israeli violations of the Genocide Convention;
- cooperate with the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council with the goal of ensuring respect for international law and the protection of human rights;
- condemn the sanctionsimposed on Francesca Albanese on 9 July 2025 and insist that the U.S. government rescinds them immediately;
- demand that Israel immediately take every measure within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of the Genocide Convention, as legally prescribed by the International Court of Justice on 26 January 2024;
- Fulfil their own obligations under the Genocide Convention to prevent and suppress genocide in Gaza and the West Bank by employing all legal means available against Israel, with an extreme sense of urgency, including establishing an arms embargo.
