(July 12, 2024 / JNS)
After months of refusing to state publicly who paid for an anti-Israel United Nations official’s politically-centered visit to Australia and New Zealand, the U.N. Human Rights Office told JNS on Friday that the global body paid for the trip in November.
Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for Palestinian rights, has become the focus of an internal U.N. investigation into allegations launched by U.N. Watch, a watchdog that alleges that pro-Hamas lobbying groups funded the trip.
The Australian Friends of Palestine Association claimed publicly that it had “sponsored” Albanese’s visit, and Free Palestine Melbourne, the Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network and Palestinian Christians in Australia stated that they “supported” the trip. All four are lobbying groups.
During the visit to Australia, Albanese participated in media and fundraising events, as well as meetings with pro-Palestinian politicians and civil society members.
A connected trip to New Zealand included what U.N. Watch calls a meeting “tolobbya major New Zealand sovereign wealth fund to divest from Israel-related companies.”
JNS sought a copy from the United Nations of its payment for Albanese’s travel and correspondence between her office and the global body that would confirm the timeline of when the United Nations agreed to pay for the travel.
Albanese’s special rapporteur position is a volunteer role that is technically independent of the United Nations. The global body pays her expenses out of a designated budget.
Her trips to Australia and New Zealand did not appear in the mandated U.N. special proceduresannual report. The U.N. Human Rights Office told JNS that the trip was not included, because “it was not a designated ‘country visit’ per se.”
“Only official country visits aimed at assessing the human-rights situation in that country itself, and that are followed by a country visit report to the Human Rights Council, are included in this list,” it added.
JNS asked how the U.N. Human Rights Office, which has said it is in a dire financial state, justified spending an estimated $22,000 for Albanese’s politically-motivated trip.
Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, told JNS that the work of special rapporteurs is outside Guterres’s purview.
“He does not appoint them. He has no authority over them,” Dujarric told JNS on Friday. “It is part of a mechanism, of a human rights mechanism.”
“They have access to a budget through Geneva. It is not for me to condone whatever the special rapporteurs do or say,” Dujarric added.
‘Different systems of accountability’
JNS asked if Guterres can make the case to donors of being a good steward of limiting funding during a cash crunch when such expenditures take place.
“I think the secretary-general is a very good steward of the U.N. budget that is under his responsibility,” Dujarric said. “We’ve seen the budget cuts that we’ve had to make. Again, this comes under the overall human rights budget of the U.N. and it is not under the authority of the secretary-general.”
Albanese has a documentedhistoryof making antisemitic comments and justifying terrorism against Israel.
Her denial that Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre was based on the terror group’s hatred of Jews was rebuked by the French government, which called the remarks “scandalous” and “a disgrace.” The German government called her comments “appalling.”
The U.N.’s internal investigative body opened a case on June 26 based on the financial impropriety allegations against Albanese. It is unclear who ordered the opening of the case, and Guterres’s office has denied he is responsible for it.
Volker Turk, the high commissioner for human rights, to whom the case was referred, handed it over to the coordination committee for special procedures, which is comprised of Albanese’s colleagues.
The committee issued a statement on May 16 defending unnamed “U.N. human rights experts” from attacks, including “unfounded allegations of misuse of resources and claims of bias and unprofessional conduct intended to damage reputations, on social media, during U.N. meetings and even when experts are on official country visits.”
Although the committee didn’t name Albanese, it did state that “our colleagues addressing the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel face severe targeting in social media and baseless accusations that question their integrity and motivations.” Albanese’s mandate covers that region.
JNS asked the United Nations on Friday about the credibility of such an investigation.
“There are different systems of accountability. Different people in this organization are accountable to different parts of the system, many of which are not under the authority of the secretary-general,” Dujarric said.
“If anyone misuses U.N. funds within any part of the system, there needs to be accountability, and it needs to be done after a thorough investigation,” he added.
