The Palestinian NGO Network and the Human Rights Organizations Council condemn in the strongest terms the decision of the United States of America to impose sanctions on Ms. Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, of the United Nations Human Rights Council, against the background of her professional and courageous reports that clearly revealed the crime of genocide and the grave and systematic violations committed by the Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinian people in besieged Gaza and the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.

This US decision sets a dangerous precedent, a direct and crude interference in the work of the United Nations system and a flagrant violation of the principles of international law, in particular the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the four Geneva Conventions of 1949. This resolution is also a clear violation of General Assembly resolution 60/251 (2006) on the establishment of the Human Rights Council, which stipulates the independence of Council mechanisms, including special rapporteurs, and the inadmissibility of them to any political pressure or blackmail.

The targeting of the Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, did not come from a vacuum, but rather as a result of her professional conduct committed to international human rights standards, and her courage in highlighting the crimes of the Israeli occupation, which include extrajudicial killings, genocide and ethnic cleansing, illegal settlements, mass siege, and the imposition of an apartheid regime, which have been documented and confirmed by identical reports issued by UN bodies and international human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the International Independent Commission of Inquiry. of the United Nations.

These sanctions represent a dangerous escalation in the US government's efforts to silence those who expose Israel's grave violations of international law and the ongoing genocide in Gaza. As a holder of a UN mandate, Special Rapporteur Albanese has consistently upheld her duty to document and condemn the systematic oppression, apartheid and mass atrocities committed against the Palestinian people. Instead of addressing these well-documented crimes, the United States has chosen to punish the carriers., further entrenching its complicity in Israeli atrocities.

The actions of the U.S. government constitute a flagrant attack on the independence of the UN human rights system and the principles of international law. Including the sanctioning of International criminal court judges, the prosecutor of the ICC and threats against its employees. While the majority of Holocaust scholars, human rights organizations, and UN bodies recognize the catastrophic reality in Gaza – where Israeli forces have killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, displaced millions and wiped out entire cities – the United States continues to arm, finance, and politically protect the perpetrators. Punishing a UN official for doing her job is not just an assault on freedom of expression and accountability. But it is also a direct attempt to dismantle the rules-based international order that the US claims to support.

Palestinian civil society affirms  its solidarity and full support for the Special Rapporteur and her activities and reports, and considers any targeting of her as targeting the truth and the victims of crimes and violations in the occupied Palestinian territory, and demands the following:

1. Immediately repeal the US decision, as it contradicts the basic principles of international law and the independence of the United Nations system.

2. We call for the protection of Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanes and the guarantee that she can perform her duties without pressure or reprisals, in accordance with the Code of Conduct of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council.

3. Call on the UN Secretary-General and the Human Rights Council to take a clear and public position condemning this US interference and stressing the protection of the independence of special rapporteurs.

4. Call on the international community, especially human rights organizations and legal bodies, to act urgently to stop this dangerous path that threatens the credibility of the international human rights system.

Palestinian NGO Network

Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council