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NEW YORK CITY: The US has strongly denounced the continued tenure of Francesca Albanese as the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, citing what it describes as antisemitic rhetoric and bias against Israel.

In a statement issued by the US Mission to the UN, Washington reiterated its longstanding opposition to Albanese’s role, saying her actions “make clear the United Nations tolerates antisemitic hatred, bias against Israel, and the legitimization of terrorism.”

Albanese’s outspokenness against Israeli policies and what the International Court of Justice has ruled as potential genocidal actions in Gaza has marked what many called “an extraordinary period in UN history and even for human rights struggle in world history.”

But the US described Albanese’s record as emblematic of the broader failings of the UN Human Rights Council, whose support for Albanese “offers yet another example of why President Trump ordered the United States to cease all participation in the HRC.”

Albanese, an Italian academic appointed to the mandate in 2022, will remain in the role until April 2028, completing the six-year maximum term for special rapporteurs. The position is unpaid.

The UNHRC said that no formal reappointment was made during its recent 58th session earlier this month, adding that her tenure is proceeding as originally scheduled.

Albanese’s continued role has drawn sharp criticism from pro-Israel organizations and the Israeli government.

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, condemned what he described as the council’s de facto renewal of her mandate, calling it “a disgrace and a moral stain on the United Nations.”

He accused Albanese of promoting antisemitic views and excusing Hamas’ actions during the Oct. 7 attacks.

Pro-Israel advocacy groups had petitioned the council to remove Albanese, citing her statements and reports as evidence of partiality.

Critics point to her March 2025 report, in which Albanese accused Israel of pursuing a “long-term strategy” of ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank.

However, pro-Palestinian figures, including prominent Jewish historians, lawyers, and human rights advocates, have rallied in support of Albanese, with many praising her continued role as “a small, but defiant, victory for Gaza, truth, and human rights.”

Albanese, who is also affiliated with Georgetown University and a former UNRWA staffer, has faced mounting scrutiny since the outbreak of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza in October 2023.

Similar attacks, although less ferocious, have been directed at each of the three special rapporteurs that preceded Albanese. One of the three, Richard Falk, described the claims against Albanese as “a totally defamatory smear that has been repeated by Israeli media and lobbying organizations around the world.”

Falk described Albanese as “a person of the highest moral character, a true champion of human rights, and someone who is entirely free from prejudice against any ethnicity, including, of course, the Jewish people.”

He added that at the same time, Albanese is “an unsparing critic of Israel as a state guilty of settler colonial policies and practices that have made the Palestinian people suffer extreme harm and hardships since 1948.”

Her defenders believe the backlash is part of a political campaign to silence criticism of Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank.

The UNHRC has not signaled any move to alter Albanese’s mandate before its scheduled end in 2028.

GENEVA: The United Nations said Tuesday that it expected more than two million people displaced in war-ravaged Sudan to return to Khartoum within the next six months, if security conditions allow.
Fighting erupted in Sudan on April 15, 2023 between the army, led by Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, headed by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
As the world marks the two-year anniversary of the devastating conflict, which has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted around 13 million, the UN’s International Organization for Migration noted the need to prepare for many of the displaced to begin returning home to Khartoum.
The capital city became a battleground almost from the start, but since the army recaptured it last month, the agency said “we are seeing people returning, we are seeing hope coming.”
“Our estimate in IOM is that over the next six months, we will have 2.1 million returning to the Khartoum capital,” Mohamed Refaat, its chief of mission in Sudan, told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Port Sudan.
This calculation, he said, was “based on the numbers we understand that... left the capital when the war started.”
“So we estimate that 31 percent of... IDPs (internally displaced people) in Sudan after the war are actually coming from Khartoum,” he said, adding that the agency expected around half of them to “be returning back to Khartoum.”
The returns, he said, would depend on “the security situation and... the availability of services on the ground.”
Getting the city ready for a mass influx will be a challenge, Refaat acknowledged.
“We see that some spots in the Khartoum itself have been cleaned, but the process I’m sure will take longer,” he said, adding that “the electricity system in the whole Khartoum has been destroyed.”
Refaat also warned that “as we see people are returning, the war is far from stopped,” with thousands still being displaced elsewhere in the country, especially in the Darfur region.
“The conflict has to stop, and we need to put all effort for this conflict to stop,” he said.
But Refaat acknowledged that the funds raised to address Sudan’s towering needs were far from sufficient.
The IOM unveiled a response plan Tuesday asking for nearly $29 million to reach around half a million people in Khartoum, including returnees, he said.