The UN called on Washington Thursday to reverse its decision to sanction a UN expert who has repeatedly accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and has criticised US policy on the war there.
United Nations rights chief Volker Turk also called for a halt to "attacks and threats" against people appointed by the UN and other international institutions like the International Criminal Court, whose judges have also been hit with US sanctions.
"I urge the prompt reversal of US sanctions against a Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council, Francesca Albanese, in response to work she has undertaken under the mandate on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory," Turk said in a statement.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday announced that Washington was sanctioning the outspoken expert "for her illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt (ICC) action against US and Israeli officials, companies, and executives".
Albanese slammed the sanctions as "calculated to weaken my mission".
"I will continue to do what I have to do," she told reporters during a visit to Slovenia.
Rubio slammed the UN expert's strident criticism of the United States and said she recommended to the ICC that arrest warrants be issued targeting Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Rubio, whose country has boycotted the UN rights council since President Donald Trump returned to power in January, also accused Albanese of "biased and malicious activities" and accused her of having "spewed unabashed antisemitism (and) support for terrorism".
"We will not tolerate these campaigns of political and economic warfare, which threaten our national interests and sovereignty," Rubio said.
Genocide
Albanese has long faced harsh criticism by Israel and some of its allies over her relentless criticism and long-standing accusations that Israel is committing "genocide" in Gaza.
The Italy-born expert, who assumed her current mandate in 2022, released a damning report earlier this month denouncing companies—many of them American—that she said "profited from the Israeli economy of illegal occupation, apartheid, and now genocide" in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The report provoked a furious response from Israel, while some of the named companies also raised objections.
Washington last month slapped sanctions on four ICC judges, in part over the court's arrest warrant for Netanyahu, barring them from the United States.
UN special rapporteurs like Albanese are independent experts who are appointed by the UN rights council but do not speak on behalf of the United Nations.
Attacks and threats
The current president of the rights council, Swiss ambassador Jurg Lauber, also decried the sanctions against the expert in a statement.
He urged UN member states to "fully cooperate with the Special Rapporteurs and mandate holders of the Council and to refrain from any acts of intimidation or reprisal against them".
Turk said the rapporteurs worked on "sensitive and often divisive issues that are of international concern" and urged member states to avoid resorting to "punitive measures".
Israel on Wednesday commended Rubio's action against the rapporteur.
"Albanese has consistently undermined the credibility of the UN Human Rights Council by promoting false narratives and pushing for illegitimate legal actions that ignore the realities on the ground," said Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon.
By Nina LARSON, AFP
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