EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni. AFP
"The European Union strongly supports the United Nations human rights system and we deeply regret the decision to impose sanctions on Francesca Albanese," said EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday announced that Washington is sanctioning the UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, following her criticism of the United States' complicity in Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 58,000 Palestinians.
The UN warned Thursday that Washington was setting a "dangerous precedent" by imposing the sanctions and called for the cancellation of the action.
United Nations rights chief Volker Turk also called for a halt to "attacks and threats" against people appointed by the UN and international institutions like the International Criminal Court, whose judges have also been hit with US sanctions.
Albanese has faced harsh criticism by Israel and some of its allies over her relentless criticism of Israel's war and 'genocide' in Gaza.
The Italian-born expert, who assumed her mandate in 2022, released a damning report this month denouncing companies -- many of them American -- that she said "profited from the Israeli economy of illegal occupation, apartheid, and now genocide" in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The report provoked a furious Israeli response, while some of the companies also raised objections.
UN special rapporteurs like Albanese are independent experts who are appointed by the UN rights council but do not speak on behalf of the United Nations.
Washington has escalated efforts to shield Israeli officials from legal accountability. Last month, the United States imposed sanctions on four ICC judges following the court’s decision to seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The sanctions effectively bar the judges from entering the United States.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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