Despite widespread attempts to remove her, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has extended Francesca Albanese’s mandate as special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories until 2028.

Albanese, an Italian international law professor at Georgetown University, previously worked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

She was initially appointed to the post in April 2022. Her opponents lodged a significant number of complaints against her ahead of a UNHRC session.

EU and US lawmakers, as well as pro-Israel groups, have accused Albanese of anti-Semitism and tried to stop her reinstatement on several occasions.

She has called these accusations a smear campaign by pro-Israeli groups, and her supporters view her as an outspoken champion of the Palestinian people.

The UN’s coordination committee for special procedures dismissed complaints against Albanese late last month.

Albanese has said on numerous occasions that there are clear indications that the Israeli regime has violated at least three of the five acts listed under the UN Genocide Convention.

Furthermore, she has consistently documented Israeli war crimes in Gaza, which makes her role one of the most controversial in the UN.

The special rapporteur is an independent expert appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to follow and report on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory. 

Part of the task of the special rapporteur is to assess Israel’s violations of the principles and bases of international law, international humanitarian law and the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.

“Knowing Francesca Albanese well, I can affirm that she is a person of the highest moral character, a true champion of human rights, and a person that is entirely free from prejudice against any ethnicity, including of course the Jewish people,” said Richard Falk, the previous special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories.

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