Francesca Albanese

Francesca Albanese in 2025

Francesca Paola Albanese (born 30 March 1977) is an Italian legal scholar and expert on human rights. On 1 May 2022, she was appointed United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories for a three-year term, which was then renewed for another three years. She is the first woman to hold the position.

Quotes

• There are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the commission of the crime of genocide against Palestinians as a group in Gaza has been met.
  • "Gaza war: UN rights expert accuses Israel of acts of genocide", BBC, 26 March 2024.

• The overwhelming nature and scale of Israel’s assault on Gaza and the destructive conditions of life it has inflicted reveal an intent to physically destroy Palestinians as a group.
  • "UN expert accuses Israel of ‘genocide’ in Gaza", Al Jazeera, 26 Mar 2024.

• I do believe that the ICC arrest warrants constitute a historical decision. It is the first time that (these are against) leaders who are considered Western, because Israel is part of the Western bloc … It is important to advance the application of international law, especially when there are atrocity crimes.
  • "Political convenience still overshadowing international law in efforts to punish Israel: UN expert Albanese", Anadolu Agency, 29 November 2024.

• I will not give time to people who use the label of antisemitism to attack those who criticise Israel for its appalling human rights records – those people are not concerned with addressing real antisemitism, which is something that very much exists and is revolting.
  • "UN Official Slams David Lammy’s Refusal to Call Gaza a Genocide", Novara Media, 22 January 2025.

• I call for these top EU officials, and others, to face charges of complicity of war crimes over their support for Israel’s 19 month of assault on Gaza. This cannot be met with impunity.
  • Francesca Albanese: 'EU officials must face charges of complicity in war crimes', EUobserver, 6 June 2025.

• Israel commits crimes like it breathes. The only way to protect not only Palestinians, but also Israelis, is to stop it. It is a threat to peace and security.
  • Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories: ‘Israel commits crimes like it breathes. It must be stopped’ , El País, 27 June 2025.

• While political leaders and governments shirk their obligations, far too many corporate entities have profited from Israel’s economy of illegal occupation, apartheid and, now, genocide.
  • "Global firms ‘profiting from genocide’ in Gaza, says UN rapporteur", The Guardian, 3 July 2025.

• Italian, French and Greek citizens deserve to know that every political action violating the int’l legal order, weakens and endangers all of them. And all of us.
  • "UN expert Albanese slams states that let Netanyahu fly over airspace to US" Al Jazeera, 9 July 2025.

• For me, Palestine has been a revealer. It’s not that all of a sudden, we woke up in a world that is dominated by the US, especially the world we are part of politically, militarily, strategically, the US is the dominant character here. And Israel is a sort of extension of it in the Middle East. It’s an extension of Western power and Western supremacy. I know that the Israelis do not like it, but I do also believe that they do not realize how instrumentalized they are because of interests that are above all of us. We tend to think in terms of states as the ultimate decision makers. We think of it in democracies. We think of it in dictatorships. But, in fact, I don’t think that states are the decision makers. States today, more than before, more than a few decades ago, respond to certain interests, economic, military and financial interests that are connected to the main power holders in this world. I mean, and there are numbers. What I’m saying may sound like conspiracy theories to people who might not know enough about the inequality of the world. The Thomas Piketty Institute in its most recent inequality report mentions this data, which I found shocking, staggering, the fact that half of the world population retains altogether one third of the wealth which is retained by 50,000 people in the world. I repeat, 50,000 people in the world retain three times the wealth retained by half of the world population. How is it possible? Who are these? Clearly, they are not just individuals like you and I. They retain pockets of power. And it’s those connected to the extractive industry for the control of natural resources, those connected to securing the use of force, military power and surveillance, and those connected to financial transactions, corporations and banks and pension funds. So, these are the main powers with certain corporations like pharmaceuticals more influential than others, or those related to tourism for example. However, this is the brain power of those 50,000 people.
  • Francesca Albanese: "The World Is Not Sleeping—It Is Looking Away" Interview with Chris Hedges for Scheerpost (July 8, 2026)

Quotes about Albanese

• Francesca Albanese is the good
  • Roger Waters (British musician, Pink Floyd co-founder), video on his official Facebook (January 27, 2025)

• I don't know if you heard about Francesca Albanese (..) US shoud apply sanctions against her. She shouldn't be allowed entering the United States of America. She comes once a month to promote hate, to go to universities, and you know she compared our prime minister Netanyahu to Hitler; and she compare your president to orrible leaders. That's unacceptable and I expect the new administration to be stronger on this issue.
  • Danny Danon (Israeli politician and diplomat), The inaugural JNS International Policy Summit held in Jerusalem (April 27–28, 2025)

• In her extraordinary 2025 UN report, Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese exposes a network of enablers that sustain the arms industry's windfall, including law firms, auditing and consulting firms, arms dealers, universities, and brokers. She unveils the vast web of corporations and intermediaries for whom the destruction of Palestinian life has translated into record profits – for tech giants like Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon, financial powerhouses such as Vanguard and BlackRock, and the world's largest extractive and energy conglomerates.
  • Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention. (2026). ISBN 978-1668085141 p. 153

• Albanese's campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated.
  • Marco Rubio (American politician, diplomat, and attorney), about US issues sanctions against UN investigator probing abuses in Gaza (July 9, 2025)