The United States said Wednesday that he was imposing sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, which has been very critical of the United States War of Israel in Gaza.
“Today I am imposing sanctions on the special rapport of the UN Human Rights Council, Francesca Albanese, for its illegitimate and shameful efforts to promote an action (of the International Criminal Court) against the officials, companies and executives of the United States of the United States and Israelis,” said Secretary of State Framework Rubio in a statement.
In a publication about X on Wednesday night, Albanese wrote that he was standing “with firmness and convincing on the side of justice, as I have always done”, not directly mentioning the sanctions of the United States. In a text message to Al Jazeera, it was summoned as discarding the movement of the United States as “mafia style intimidation techniques.”
Albanese, an Italian lawyer and academic, has asked the States to the UN Human Rights Council to impose an embargo on arms and cut the commercial and financial ties with Israel while accusing the United States ally to fight a “genocidal campaign” in Gaza.
Israel has faced accusations of genocide in the International Court of Justice and War Crimes in the CPI for its devastating military assault to Gaza. Israel denies the accusations and says that his campaign is equivalent to self -defense after a deadly Hamas attack in October 2023.
In a report published earlier this month, Albanese accused more than 60 companies, including the main weapons manufacturers and technology companies, participation in support for Israeli settlements and military actions in Gaza. The report asked companies to cease deals with Israel and the legal responsibility of executives involved in alleged violations of international law.
Albanese is one of the dozens of independent human rights experts ordered by the United Nations to inform about specific issues and crises. The opinions expressed by the special rapporteurs do not reflect those of the global body as a whole.
Rights experts criticized US sanctions against Albanese. Dylan Williams, vice president of government affairs at the International Policies Center, described them as “dishonest behavior”, while Amnesty International said that special reporters must be supported and not sanctioned.
“Governments around the world and all actors who believe in the order based on rules and international law must do everything in their possession to mitigate and block the effect of sanctions against Francesca Albanese and, in general, in general to protect the work and independence of special raptors,” said Amnesty International Secretary General, Agnes Callamar, a former UN special.
Since he returned to office in January, President Donald Trump has arrested the United States commitment to the UN Human Rights Council, the funds for the Palestinian Aid Agency UNRWA were arrested and ordered a review of the UNESCO Cultural Agency.
He has also announced US plans to leave the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization.
His administration imposed sanctions on four judges in the ICC in June in retaliation for the issuance of the war court of an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a past decision to open a case in alleged war crimes by US troops in Afghanistan.
