What to know about Francesca Albanese, the UN investigator sanctioned by the U.S.

CBC News

· Posted: Jul 10, 2025 11:42 AM EDT | Last Updated: 28 minutes ago

The United States has imposed sanctions connected the United Nations authoritative who investigates quality rights abuses successful occupied Palestinian territories, the latest effort by the Trump medication to punish those who knock Israel's warfare successful the Gaza Strip.

Here's what you request to know.

Who is Francesca Albanese?

Francesca Albanese, an Italian lawyer and academic, is 1 of dozens of autarkic quality rights experts mandated by the UN to study connected circumstantial themes and crises. Outside experts, specified as Albanese, bash not correspond the United Nations arsenic a full but they study to the assembly arsenic a means of monitoring countries' quality rights records.

What has she said astir the war?

She has agelong been an outspoken professional of Israel's subject run successful Gaza. In a speech to the UN Human Rights Council past week, Albanese said Israel was "responsible for 1 of the cruelest genocides in modern history." In an interrogation with CBC's Front Burner podcast past November, she said it was her presumption that Israel's "ultimate extremity is taste cleansing" successful the enclave.

"Under the fog of war, this is what Israel does. It forces Palestinians retired of their homes, retired of their land. It destroys. It creates conditions that are unlivable, and it makes it intolerable for the Palestinians to return," she said.

She has urged other countries to unit Israel, including done sanctions, to extremity its deadly bombardment of the Gaza Strip. She been a beardown protagonist of the International Criminal Court's (ICC's) arrest warrants against Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for allegations of warfare crimes.

WATCH | Albanese accuses Israel of crimes against humanity: 

Israel and the U.S. person powerfully denied accusations of genocide. Israel has said its military campaign successful Gaza amounts to self-defence after the Hamas-led onslaught successful confederate Israel connected Oct. 7, 2023, which saw roughly 1,200 radical killed and much than 250 taken hostage

Israel's retaliatory run has killed implicit 57,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry has said women and children relationship for the bulk of those killed, but does not specify however galore were fighters oregon civilians.

Why did the U.S. accidental it was imposing sanctions?

Albanese has faced disapproval from pro-Israel officials and groups successful the U.S. and successful the Middle East. The U.S. ngo to the UN issued a scathing connection past week, calling for her removal for "a years-long signifier of virulent antisemitism and unrelenting anti-Israel bias."

In a report published earlier this month, Albanese named Western defence companies that person provided weapons utilized by Israel's military as good arsenic manufacturers of earth-moving instrumentality that person bulldozed Palestinian homes and property. The study called connected companies to cease dealings with Israel and for ineligible accountability for executives implicated successful alleged violations of planetary law.

WATCH | Albanese's critique toward Israel successful February 2025: 

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. was sanctioning Albanese for her enactment with the ICC to analyse Americans and Israelis. 

"We volition not tolerate these campaigns of governmental and economical warfare, which endanger our nationalist interests and sovereignty," work a connection from Rubio on Wednesday.

For months, the Trump medication has looked to punish critics of Israel's handling of the warfare successful Gaza. Earlier this year, the medication began arresting and trying to deport module and students of U.S. universities who participated successful pro-Palestinian demonstrations and different governmental activities.

The U.S. has besides sanctioned 4 judges with the ICC.

What did Albanese say astir the sanctions?

In a station connected X precocious connected Wednesday, Albanese wrote that she stood "firmly and convincingly connected the broadside of justice, arsenic I person ever done," without straight mentioning the U.S. sanctions. In a substance connection to Al Jazeera, she was quoted arsenic dismissing the U.S. determination arsenic "mafia-style intimidation techniques."

How did Canada respond?

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand responded to quality of the sanctions connected Thursday with a wide look of enactment for the UN and its personnel, though she did not name Albanese directly.

"I volition accidental that Canada believes successful planetary instrumentality and Canada believes successful the institutions that are astatine the bosom of dispensing planetary law," she said, speaking during a quality league from Kuala Lumpur. 

"It is highly important successful the rules-based bid that has kept america each harmless since the extremity of the Second World War to respect those institutions and the individuals dispensing that law."

What about other rights officials?

Rights experts slammed the U.S. sanctions against Albanese. Dylan Williams, vice-president for authorities affairs astatine the Center for International Policy think-tank, labelled them arsenic "rogue authorities behaviour" portion Amnesty International said special rapporteurs must beryllium supported and not sanctioned.

"Governments astir the satellite and each actors who judge successful the rule-based bid and planetary instrumentality indispensable bash everything successful their powerfulness to mitigate and artifact the effect of the sanctions against Francesca Albanese and much mostly to support the enactment and independency of Special Rapporteurs," said Amnesty International's Secretary General Agnes Callamard, who is besides a former UN peculiar rapporteur.

Liz Evenson, planetary justness manager astatine Human Rights Watch, said the U.S. government's determination to sanction Albanese for seeking justness done the ICC "is really each astir silencing a UN expert for doing her occupation — speaking information astir Israeli violations against Palestinians and calling connected governments and corporations not to beryllium complicit."

"The United States is moving to dismantle the norms and institutions connected which survivors of sedate abuses rely," Evenson said successful a statement. "UN and ICC subordinate countries should powerfully defy the U.S. government's shameless efforts to artifact justness for the world's worst crimes and condemn the outrageous sanctions on Albanese."