The following statement is initiated by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) and the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights (ELDH)
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The United States’ systematic attacks on international institutions and their representatives are aimed directly at dismantling the international legal order built through the decades-long struggles of the world’s peoples. The statement made on July 1, 2025, by the U.S. Permanent Mission to the United Nations opposing the mandate of Francesca Albanese—UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian Territories occupied since 1967—is not merely a personal attack on an individual. It is a blatant affront to the Palestinian people’s demand for justice, truth, and accountability; an act of support for and incitement to genocide; and an intervention designed to dismantle one of the core independent oversight mechanisms of the multilateral international system.
This attack is directly linked to the broader and increasingly strategic posture adopted by the U.S. toward the International Criminal Court (ICC), including the imposition of coercive sanctions on ICC judges. The campaign to discredit and target Francesca Albanese must therefore also be seen as an assault on the ICC’s genocide investigation, on the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion regarding the illegality of Israel’s occupation regime and the ICJ’s finding of a plausible case that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, and ultimately on the universal principles of international law.
The imposition of sanctions on Francesca Albanese by the United States reflects the U.S.’ ongoing use of coercive economic measures as a mechanism of warfare against states refusing the dictates of the United States, organizations pursuing liberatory goals, particularly in Palestine, and individuals participating in such efforts, including the imposition of legal accountability. The sanctions were imposed just days after Albanese published a new report documenting how companies have profited from Israel’s illegal occupation, its brutal system of apartheid and its ongoing genocide in Gaza. The sanctions regime blatantly aims to use economic coercion and forced impoverishment to enable genocide and undermine national self-determination and sovereignty
Those attacking Francesca Albanese aim to obscure the war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide carried out by Israel in Gaza and across the Occupied Palestinian Territories. These attacks seek to silence mechanisms that amplify the voice of the Palestinian people, document the facts, and call on the international community to act. But let it be clear: no attack on Francesca Albanese can cast a veil of invisibility over Gaza. Today, across the globe, people stand in solidarity with those individuals and institutions under attack precisely because they stand with the Palestinian people.
The international legal order was built on the blood and resistance of peoples. The UN Special Rapporteur system exists to curb the arbitrariness of states and expose human rights violations. The independence of these mechanisms is enshrined in binding legal instruments such as the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Human Rights Council’s Resolution 5/1. The ability of Special Rapporteurs to carry out their work freely, independently, and without coercion is essential to the integrity and credibility of the entire system. The U.S. Mission’s statement is, in essence, an attempt to dismantle that legal framework.
To stand with Francesca Albanese is to stand with the Palestinian people in their quest for justice in the face of occupation, genocide, and war crimes—and to defend the universal values of international law. We extend our unwavering solidarity to all independent voices that imperial powers seek to silence. For the shared future of humanity lies in defending justice and the rule of law.
Signatories
Associations
- International Association of Democratic Lawyers
- European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights (ELDH)
- Indian Association of Lawyers
- Progressive Lawyers’ Association (ÇHD), Turkey
- Asociación Americana de Juristas (AAJ)
- National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), Philippines
- National Lawyers Guild International Committee, USA
- CRED-GIGI, Italy
- Giuristi Democratici, Italy
- National Association of Democratic Lawyers (NADEL), South Africa
- Japan Lawyers International Solidarity Association (JALISA)
- Socialist Lawyers Association of Ireland
- Democratic Lawyers Association of Bangladesh
- Associação Portuguesa de Juristas Democratas
- Asociación Venezolana de Juristas
- Arab Lawyers Association (UK)
- Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peuples (MRAP)
- The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR)
- Individual signatories
- Suzanne Adely, National Lawyers Guild (USA), Associate Member of the Bureau of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers
- Urko Aiartza, ELDH Co-President
- Marjorie Cohn, Founding Dean, Monique and Roland Weyl People’s Academy of International Law (United States)
- Evelyn Dürmayer, IADL representative at the UN in Vienna (Austria)
- Beth Lyons, Alternate Representative to the U.N. in New York for the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL)
- Osamu Niilkura, President of Japan Democratic Lawyers Association, Professor emeritus at Aoyama Gakuin University, and Attorney at Law
- Thomas Schmidt, ELDH Co-Secretary General
- Barbara Spinelli, ELDH Co-President
- Ceren Uysal, ELDH Co-Secretary General