UN Secretary-General António Guterres distanced himself from UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese after several member states criticized her speech at the 17th Al Jazeera Forum in Doha last weekend.
“We’ve always believed that the institution of special rapporteurs, while being completely separate from the secretary-general, is an important part of the international human rights architecture. We don’t always agree with what they say, and that includes Ms. Albanese,” Guterres’ spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, said.
Dujarric added that Guterres’ office “doesn’t agree with much of what she says, and wouldn’t use the language that she uses to describe the situation in the region.”
Albanese ignited rebukes from an array of world leaders when she suggested that Israel was “a common enemy” for all.
“Instead of stopping Israel, most of the world has armed” it, she said, adding that the international community has given the Jewish state “political sheltering and economic and financial support.”
“We who do not control large amounts of financial capital, algorithms, and weapons – we now see that we as humanity have a common enemy,” Albanese continued.
When questioned further regarding Albanese’s comments during the Al Jazeera Forum, Dujarric said, “I’m not here to defend what she says or criticize what she says, right? She has a right, as a special rapporteur, to speak within her mandate. People have a right to criticize her. People have a right to support her.”
He went on to say that if someone was unsatisfied with Albanese’s work, there were mechanisms to address it, citing France’s request to remove Albanese from her post.
Dujarric refused to comment on whether Guterres had listened to Albanese’s speech, telling reporters, “You should ask him instead.”
Albanese under heavy fire for antisemitic speech
Italy and Austria supported France’s calls to oust Albanese from her position as a UN special rapporteur, citing her speech during the forum, which representatives of Hamas and Iran attended.
The vice president of the Council of Ministers of Italy, Antonio Tajani, wrote on X/Twitter that Albanese’s comments do not reflect the Italian government’s position.
“Her behaviors, statements, and initiatives are not appropriate for the position she holds within a body of peace and guarantee, such as the United Nations,” he wrote.
Austria’s Federal Minister for European and International Affairs, Beate Meinl-Reisinger, said that Albanese branded Israel an “enemy of humanity."
She slammed the UN special rapporteur for using language that “undermines the impartiality and highest standards that the role of a UN representative requires.”
France, meanwhile, will demand Albanese’s resignation during the United Nations Human Rights Council session set for February 23, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced during a parliamentary meeting this past week.
Albanese’s comments, Barrot said, “target not the Israeli government, whose policies can be criticized, but Israel as a people and as a nation, which is absolutely unacceptable.”
In response to the accusations leveled against her, she blamed her critics for not condemning Israel with the same conviction, as she put it.
She said her words were misinterpreted and taken out of context.
Releasing the full video of her statement to support her stance, Albanese said, the common enemy of humanity is the broader system she blames for Israel’s actions, not the country itself, per se.
Miriam Sela-Eitam contributed to this report.