Amnesty International has denounced US sanctions imposed on UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory Francesca Albanese, calling the move a "shameless and transparent attack on the fundamental principles of international justice."
The reaction followed an announcement by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirming punitive measures against Albanese, just days after she published a report exposing corporate profiteering from Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.
"Special Rapporteurs are not appointed to please governments or to be popular but to deliver their mandate,” Amnesty Secretary General Agnes Callamard said in a statement released on Wednesday.
"Francesca Albanese’s mandate is to advocate for human rights and international law, essential at a time when the very survival of Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip is at stake," the statement said.
Callamard warned that the sanctions mark a continuation of "the Trump administration’s assault on international law," referencing previous sanctions on the International Criminal Court.
“They are the latest in a series of Trump administration policies seeking to intimidate and silence those that dare speak out for Palestinians’ human rights,” she added.
Albanese has recently published a report alleging that companies are profiting from what she describes as Israel’s illegal occupation and its “brutal system of apartheid” and “ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
Amnesty called on the international community to reject the US decision and take active steps to counter its effects.
“States must forcefully reject these disgraceful, vindictive sanctions and exert maximum diplomatic pressure on the US government to reverse them,” Callamard urged.
“Governments around the world and all actors who believe in the rule-based order and international law must do everything in their power to mitigate and block the effect of the sanctions.”
