The United States issued sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories earlier this month, after her criticism of Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza.
The sanctions were applied under US President Trump’s Executive Order on “Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court” from February 2025.
In a press statement, Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, declared, “Albanese has directly engaged with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in efforts to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without the consent of those two countries.” As the United States and Israel are not parties to the Rome Statute, the international treaty that established the ICC, Rubio further stated that Albanese’s actions were a “gross infringement on the sovereignty of both countries.”
Albanese, who was appointed to her position in 2022, has been documenting and calling for action to end Israel’s war in Gaza. She recently published a report on the role of corporations in Israel’s displacement of Palestinians and its war effort, which includes major American companies across a wide range of industries. Referring to the report, Rubio stated, “We will not tolerate these campaigns of political and economic warfare, which threaten our national interests and sovereignty.”
The top US diplomat also alleged that “Albanese has spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West,” including by recommending that the ICC issue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
In June, the United States issued sanctions against four judges of the ICC, including against two of them for issuing arrest warrants targeting Netanyahu and Gallant.
Reacting to the sanctions imposed on Albanese, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists that “the use of unilateral sanctions against Special Rapporteurs or any other UN expert or official is unacceptable.” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk also urged for the “prompt reversal” of the sanctions, while the President of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Jürg Lauber, called on UN Member States to fully cooperate with Special Rapporteurs and “to refrain from any acts of intimidation or reprisal against them.”
Albanese meanwhile said the move would not stop her “quest for [the] respect of justice and international law”.
“I want to remind everyone [that] the reason why these sanctions are being imposed is the pursuit of justice,” she said. “Of course I’ve been critical of Israel. It has been committing genocide and crimes against humanity and war crimes.”
Since October 2023, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, has killed at least 57,763 people according to official figures.
