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.
Israel has faced accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice and of war crimes at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its military assault on Gaza. Israel denies the accusations and says its campaign amounts to self-defence after the October 2023 Hamas attack.
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 one of dozens of independent human rights experts mandated by the United Nations to report on specific themes and crises. The views expressed by special rapporteurs do not reflect those of the global body as a whole.
'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, a former UN special rapporteur, said: "Governments around the world and all actors who believe in the rule-based order and international law must do everything in their power to mitigate and block the effect of the sanctions against Francesca Albanese and more generally to protect the work 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.
