U.S. sanctions UN Human Rights Rapporteur in occupied Palestinian territories

Albanese was sanctioned under Executive Order 14203, originally issued by U.S. President Donald Trump. This order targets individuals cooperating with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in actions against U.S. citizens or allies without American consent.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that Albanese had cooperated directly with the ICC in efforts to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute American citizens or Israeli settlers, allegedly without the consent of the U.S. or Israel.

The U.S. government’s statement accused Albanese of “bias, openly antisemitic rhetoric, support for terrorism, and blatant contempt for the U.S., Israel, and the West.”

Recently, Albanese submitted a report to the UN Human Rights Council titled “Anatomy of a Genocide”, in which she concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza since October 7 amounts to genocide.

In her report, she wrote: “It is my solemn duty to report on the worst crimes humanity can commit and to present the findings accordingly.”

She added: “Israel is responsible for one of the most ruthless genocides in modern history.”

Reacting to the U.S. action, the Secretary General of Amnesty International stated: “The Trump-era sanctions against Francesca Albanese represent the continued assault by the U.S. government on international law.”

He emphasized that these sanctions are the latest U.S. attempt to silence human rights discourse concerning Palestine.