Beirut, Lebanon – Current and former United Nations staffers have spoken out in defence of Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, after she faced attacks from a pro-Israeli NGO and several European government officials.
Albanese – who, like all special rapporteurs, is appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but is not a UN staff member – has been subjected to repeated attacks from pro-Israeli figures and bodies, with one of the most fervent critics being UN Watch, a pro-Israel NGO.
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The UN Watch, which is not a UN body, spread an edited clip of Albanese, 48, speaking at the Doha Forum earlier this month, in which the NGO falsely said she had called Israel “the common enemy of humanity”.
Albanese’s actual words were: “We now see that we as a humanity have a common enemy and the respect of fundamental freedoms is the last peaceful avenue, the last peaceful toolbox that we have to regain our freedom.”
The NGO’s clip grabbed the attention of European officials, including those from Austria, Czechia, France, Germany and Italy.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot went as far as saying he would demand her resignation on February 23 when the next session of the UN Human Rights Council is held. On February 9, a group of French MPs sent Barrot a letter denouncing Albanese and calling her remarks “anti-Semitic”. Two days later, Barrot called for Albanese to resign.
In response, hundreds of UN staffers, who are members of a group called United Staff for Gaza, hit back at the European governments targeting Albanese.
“United Staff for Gaza regrets the dis-/misinformation that has circulated in recent days concerning Special Rapporteur Albanese, which has been taken up by the French, German and other Foreign Ministers in their levelling of unwarranted, vitriolic accusations against the Special Rapporteur,” the group said in a statement on Friday.
“United Staff for Gaza appeals for a rectification of these errors and calls for an end to personal attacks, threats, intimidation, and disinformation targeting UN agencies, mandate-holders, and personnel.”
United Staff for Gaza is not an official UN body, but is made up of current and former staffers, who created the group last July to defend Palestinians’ rights. Today, it boasts nearly 2,500 members.
“The initiative serves as a channel for colleagues around the world, regardless of their areas of work, to speak out against the perpetration of mass atrocity crimes in the Gaza Strip and help defend the UN Charter,” says the group’s website.
“[Our] statement is not just to support her, but to stand against all untruthful smear campaigns that target the UN and advocates for the human rights of Palestinians worldwide, including UNRWA,” Dali ten Hove, a former UN staffer and member of the United Staff for Gaza, told Al Jazeera, referring to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Albanese, an Italian human rights lawyer and expert, was appointed the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories in May 2022. Today, she is one of the most prominent global figures calling out Israel for its genocidal war in Gaza, and advocating for Palestinian rights in general – a stand that has led to numerous attacks on her by pro-Israeli governments and organisations.
Albanese has also been backed by UNRWA, which in a statement said the latest attacks on her “aim at silencing her voice and undermining the few remaining independent human rights reporting mechanisms”.
The UN body added that there had been “coordinated campaigns seek[ing] to discredit and silence those who speak out about human rights impacts and violations of international humanitarian law”.
Chris Gunness, former UNRWA communications director, told Al Jazeera that pro-Israel politicians in the donor community are largely to blame for the attacks on Albanese.
“They allowed purveyors of industrial-scale fake news, doctored soundbites, anti-Palestinian hate speech and genocide denial, to blague their way into national parliaments and have a voice in the discourse around Palestine refugees,” he said.
“The credibility of Israel’s proxies is hanging in rags. The condemnable attack on Francesca Albanese exposes their deliberate deceit for the house of cards it always was.”
More than 100 artists also backed Albanese after calls for her resignation grew among pro-Israeli governments and groups.
Amid rising support for Albanese, a comment on the controversy by Stephane Dujarric, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s spokesperson, caused a stir among some UN staffers.
“We have always believed that the institution of special rapporteurs, while being completely separate from the secretary-general, is an important part of the international human rights architecture. We don’t always agree with what they say, and that includes Ms Albanese,” he told reporters on Thursday.
But ten Hove said Dujarric could have acknowledged that the quotes attributed to Albanese were fake. He also called for the spokesperson to respect the integrity of the UN human rights system, “like the head of UNRWA and the spokesperson of the [UN] Human Rights Office did”.
Several European government figures have also come under fire for their attacks on Albanese.
“It is reprehensible that ministers in Austria, Czechia, France, Germany and Italy have attacked the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Francesca Albanese, based on a deliberately truncated video to misrepresent and gravely misconstrue her messages – as is clear from watching her original address in its entirety,” Amnesty International’s Secretary-General Agnes Callamard said in a statement on Friday.
Callamard said some ministers have “spread disinformation” regarding Albanese, and demanded their apology.
“If only these ministers had been as loud and forceful in confronting a state committing genocide, unlawful occupation and apartheid as they have in attacking a UN expert,” Callamard wrote. “Their cowardice and refusal to hold Israel accountable stand in stark contrast to the Special Rapporteur’s unwavering commitment to speaking truth to power.”
Despite the criticism, French Foreign Minister Barrot has not retracted his call for Albanese to resign.
United Staff for Gaza’s ten Hove said the French position against Albanese was disappointing, as France has played a “very constructive role, shepherding through” the UN General Assembly’s declaration on Palestine last September.
Schams El Ghoneimi, former MENA adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron’s party in the European Parliament, also criticised the French position.
“It is unimaginable to me to see France side with the Israeli authorities’ propaganda against the UN special rapporteur,” El Ghoneimi told Al Jazeera.
“Does our government want to stand firm by international law, and therefore denounce the Israeli government’s unprecedented and ongoing violations in Gaza and the West Bank?” he asked. “Does it want to side with the grotesque propaganda of Israeli authorities? France’s credibility is at stake here.”
