‘U.N. Watch’ accused the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese, of “gross violations of U.N. rules and professional ethics” on Thursday.
The Geneva-based NGO alleged in a report addressed to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, that their representative engaged in financial misconduct by accepting payments from pro-Palestinian activist groups, and such actions constitute a violation of the organization's ethics rules.
The watchdog cited an alleged request by Albanese, where she acknowledges a prohibition on payments related to her position, to have an honorarium “transferred to the Fellowship of her volunteer which supports her mandate and work,” as compensation for a May 7 speech to anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University.
Additionally, the complaint asks the U.N. to investigate the Italian lawyer’s November 2023 trip to Australia and New Zealand that reportedly included flights and accommodations that cost an estimated $22,500.
In this incident, U.N. Watch disclosed an alleged admission by the Australian Friends of Palestine that they sponsored the voyage with likeminded advocacy partners.
If this allegation is true, then Albanese would be in violation of regulations that forbid accepting gifts from non-U.N. sources.
Albanese has been criticized in the past for making antisemitic comments such as suggesting that the United States is controlled by a “Jewish lobby,” announcing that the Hamas terrorist organization has “a right to resist,” denying that the October 7 massacre was the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust, describing Israel as a colonial power, and comparing the Jewish state’s government to the Nazi regime in Germany.
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