Geneva: The United Nations Human Rights Council expressed regret Thursday over the decision by the United States government to impose sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory.
In a statement, Council President Jurg Lauber emphasized that Albanese was appointed by the Human Rights Council and that Special Rapporteurs are a vital mechanism for the Council to fulfill its mandate of promoting and protecting all human rights worldwide.
Lauber called on all UN member states to fully cooperate with Special Rapporteurs and other mandate holders appointed by the Council.
Meanwhile, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk urged the United States to reverse its sanctions against Albanese, which were imposed in response to her work under her mandate concerning the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Turk said that UN Special Rapporteurs, along with other parts of the human rights system, inherently address sensitive and often controversial issues that raise international concern, adding that the solution is not to reduce debate and dialogue, but to increase them around the very real human rights concerns they raise.
On July 3, Albanese had called for a comprehensive arms embargo on the Israeli entity and the suspension of all trade and financial agreements with it, citing crimes committed in the Gaza Strip. She stated that the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory had surpassed the threshold of catastrophe.
She also urged over a thousand companies to sever economic ties with the Israeli occupation or face legal accountability, stressing that resolving the crisis requires genuine commitment by states to the standards of the International Court of Justice, especially as the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate due to ongoing Israeli bombardment and the blockade on aid.
