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Francesca Albanese
Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 May 2022
Preceded by	Michael Lynk
Personal details
Born	Francesca P. Albanese 1977
Nationality	Italian
Profession	Academic, lawyer

Francesca P. Albanese (born 1977) is an Italian international lawyer and academic. Since May 2022, she was elected the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories for a three-year term, renewable for a further three years.

Career

Albanese holds a law degree with honours from the University of Pisa and a Master of Laws in human rights from SOAS University of London, and she is completing her PhD in International Refugee Law at the Law Faulty of Amsterdam University. She is an Affiliate Scholar at the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University and Senior Advisor on Migration and Forced Displacement at the non-profit Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD). Widely published, she co-founded at ARDD the Global Network on the Question of Palestine. In 2020, she and Lex Takkenberg wrote the Oxford University Press-published Palestinian Refugees in International Law.

Albanese worked for a decade as a human rights expert for the United Nations (UN), including the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees. During this period, she advised the UN, governments, and civil society in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions on human rights and their application and norms, particularly for vulnerable groups like refugees and migrants. She holds lectures on international law and forced displacement in both European and Arab universities, as well as conferences and public events about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. On 18 October 2022, Albanese recommended in her first report that UN member states develop "a plan to end the Israeli settler-colonial occupation and apartheid regime". The report concluded: "The violations described in the present report expose the nature of the Israeli occupation, that of an intentionally acquisitive, segregationist and repressive regime designed to prevent the realization of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination."

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories

Albanese's appointment as the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories generated controversy due to her past statements regarding the Holocaust and the Jewish lobby, which some have accused of being antisemitic in nature. In December 2022, sixty-five scholars of antisemitism, Holocaust, and Jewish studies stated: "It is evident that the campaign against is not about combating today's antisemitism. It is essentially about efforts to silence her and to undermine her mandate as a senior UN official reporting about Israel's violations of human rights and international law." A statement by 116 human rights and civil society organizations, academic institutions, and groups lauded Albanese's "tireless efforts toward the protection of human rights in the OPT and in raising awareness of the alarming daily violations of Palestinian rights". In February 2023, a bipartisan group of 18 members of the United States Congress called for Albanese to be removed from her position claiming that she has demonstrated a consistent bias against Israel.

Personal life

An Italian national, Albanese has two children.

References

1. "OHCHR | Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967". OHCHR.
2. ^ "News & Events - University of Galway". www.universityofgalway.ie. 6 November 2022.
3. Protecting Human Rights in Occupied Palestine: Working Through the United Nations. SCB Distributors. 15 January 2023. ISBN 9781949762556. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
4. https://georgetown.academia.edu/FrancescaAlbanese on the legal situation in Israel and the State of Palestine
5. Fritzsche-El-Shewy, Jasmin (26 December 2022). "Palestinian Refugees in International Law". International Journal of Refugee Law. 34: 157–159. doi:10.1093/ijrl/eeac020.
6. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/2021-12/ALBANESE_Francesca_form.pdf
7. Francesca Albanese. Situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967* (PDF) (Report). UN.
8. Staff, The New Arab (19 October 2022). "UN report urges plan to 'end Israeli colonialism, apartheid'". The New Arab.
9. "UN Palestinian rights official's social media history reveals antisemitic comments". The Times of Israel. 14 December 2022.
10. "Scholars of anti-Semitism defend UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine against pro-Israel onslaught". 22 December 2022.
11. "More than 100 rights groups condemn Israel's smear campaign against UN Special Rapporteur Albanese". WAFA.
12. "US Congress members call on UN leadership to remove antisemitic official". 27 February 2023.

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