Curated from Deeplinks — Here’s what matters right now:
Following the U.S. government's overreaching decision to impose sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, EFF joined more than 50 civil society organizations in calling for the U.S. to lift the sanctions. The U.S.’s sanctions on Francesca Albanese were formally issued in July 2025, pursuant to Section 1(a)(ii)(A) of President Trump’s Executive Order 14203, which was imposed by the U.S. on the International Criminal Court (ICC) in February for having “engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.” Under this Executive Order, the State Department is instructed to name specific people who have worked with or for the ICC. Rapporteur Albanese joins several ICC judges and the lead prosecutor in having their U.S. property and interests in property blocked, as well as restrictions on entering the country, banking, and more. One of the reasons cited in the far-reaching U.S. sanction is Albanese’s engagement with the ICC to investigate or prosecute nationals of the U.S. and Israel. The sanction came just days after the publication of the Special Rapportuer’s recent report to the UN Human Rights Council, “From economy of occupation to economy of genocide.” In her report, the Special Rapporteur “urges the International Criminal Court and national judiciaries to investigate and prosecute corporate executives and/or corporate entities for their part in the commission of international crimes and laundering of the proceeds from those crimes.” As a UN Special Rapporteur, Albanese’s role is to conduct independent research, gather information, and prepare reports on human rights situations, including documenting violations and providing recommendations to the Human Rights Council and other Human Rights bodies. Special Rapporteurs are independent experts chosen by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. They do not represent the UN or hold any formal authority, but their reports and findings are essential for advocacy in transnational situations, informing prosecutors at the International Criminal Court, or pressuring counties for human rights abuses. The unilateral sanctions imposed on the UN Special Rapporteur not only target her as an individual but also threaten the broader international human rights framework, undermining crucial work in monitoring and reporting on human rights issues. Such measures risk politicizing their mandates, discouraging frank reporting, and creating a chilling effect on human rights defenders more broadly. With the 80th session of the UN General Assembly opening in New York this September, these sanctions and travel restrictions present an amplified impingement on the Special Rapporteur’s capacity to fulfill her mandate and report on human rights abuses in Palestine. The Special Rapportuer’s report identifies how AI, cloud services, biometric surveillance, and predictive polic
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Original reporting: Deeplinks