"Himam": U.S. Sanctions on Albanese a Flagrant Assault on International Justice and Complicity in Genocide in Gaza

1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations clearly stipulates the protection of UN official

Amman – Thursday, 10 July 2025

The Coordination Committee of Civil Society Organizations (Himam) strongly condemns and firmly denounces the U.S. Department of State’s decision to impose sanctions on Ms. Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory. This decision marks a dangerous precedent in targeting one of the most courageous and independent voices within the UN system—one that dared to expose the ongoing genocide and systematic violations committed in the Gaza Strip, and to assign political and moral responsibility to those states complicit through silence, collusion, or support.

This move constitutes not only a direct attack on a UN official with a clear legal mandate, but also a blatant threat to the independence of the entire international human rights system and to what remains of the global mechanisms for accountability. Ms. Albanese has acted fully within her mandate, carrying out her professional and moral duties as authorized by the UN Human Rights Council—to document violations committed against the Palestinian population in the occupied territories and to advocate for accountability.

Himam reminds all stakeholders that the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations clearly stipulates the protection of UN officials, including Special Rapporteurs, from any legal or retaliatory measures taken against them for opinions expressed or actions performed in their official capacity. As a state party to this convention, the United States is legally bound to uphold these protections, not violate them.

Rather than revisiting its disastrous policies toward Israeli crimes, the U.S. has chosen to punish those who have exposed its complicity and spoken the truth—an unmistakable attempt to intimidate anyone who dares to confront power with justice, especially when it involves genocide and moral accountability.

Himam sees this act as not merely a case of indifference to international law, but a deliberate assault on it—an effort to dismantle its enforcement mechanisms and transform the international justice system into a tool of political domination, rather than one rooted in equality before the law.

These sanctions also expose, once again, the glaring double standards of U.S. policy: while war crimes and crimes against humanity are overlooked, independent human rights voices calling for justice and accountability are pursued and punished.

Himam reaffirms its full support for Ms. Albanese and considers her principled stance a genuine expression of human conscience and international law. It calls on the United Nations, the Human Rights Council, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, all Special Rapporteurs, and the broader international community to take a united stand against this violation, and to prevent the human rights system from becoming hostage to political blackmail and coercion.

Justice is not a crime. Calling for the enforcement of international law is not a crime. Silence in the face of genocide is the real crime that history must hold accountable.