Stop targeting UN expert Francesca Albanese—sanction atrocity enablers now!

Skyline International for Human Rights (SIHR) strongly condemns the United States government’s imposition of sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967. The sanctions—issued under Executive Order 13818—include a freeze on any assets she may hold in the U.S. and a travel ban.

This represents an unprecedented act of political retaliation against a UN mandate-holder and a blatant attack on international human rights mechanisms. Ms. Albanese is being punished simply for fulfilling her mandate. Her recent report, From the Economy of Occupation to the Economy of Genocide, rightfully exposes the complicity of corporate and state actors in enabling Israel’s ongoing crimes against Palestinians, including the unfolding genocide in Gaza. For this principled and courageous work, she now faces punitive measures designed to silence her and deter future investigations.

Such sanctioning of a UN expert sets a dangerous and chilling precedent. It undermines the very foundations of international accountability by signaling that powerful states will retaliate against any form of scrutiny, no matter how legally grounded in international law or factually substantiated. As she powerfully stated, “I want to remind everyone [that] the reason why these sanctions are being imposed is the pursuit of justice. This is not a sign of power, it’s a sign of guilt.”

At a time when hard-won progress on business and human rights regulation is being rolled back across Europe, this move by the United States—home to many of the tech companies named in her report—advances neither justice nor transparency. Instead, it casts a long shadow over UN experts and civil society actors alike: those who uncover complicity in mass atrocities will be punished.

Rather than a coordinated international response to atrocity crimes or a thorough examination of the corporate infrastructure sustaining Israel’s military campaign, we now face sanctions against the very expert mandated to investigate these crimes. Just days before the sanctions were imposed, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, publicly dismissed Ms. Albanese’s findings as “antisemitic.” This cynical conflation ignores the report’s substance and instead aims to delegitimize it while shielding corporate power from public accountability.

We stand in full solidarity with Francesca Albanese and with all human rights defenders working to expose and resist atrocity, repression, and impunity in Gaza. This is not merely about one individual but about the integrity of international law, the future of independent oversight, and the collective refusal to allow truth to be buried under the weight of political retaliation.

We urge the international community, governments worldwide, and relevant institutions to:

• Call on the United States government to immediately reverse its decision and uphold its obligations to international law and multilateral human rights institutions.
• Publicly condemn the sanctions as an attack on the independence of UN human rights mechanisms;
• Reinforce protections for UN experts and mandate-holders;
• Urgently and seriously investigate the findings presented in Ms. Albanese’s report;
• Hold corporate actors complicit in atrocities and war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank accountable, rather than allowing them to be shielded by state power.