NGO Accuses U.N. Rapporteur of Taking ‘Illegal’ Payments for Pro-Hamas Advocacy

U.N. Watch, a Geneva-based non-governmental organization (NGO), on Monday filed a legal complaint with the United Nations over alleged financial and ethical misconduct by Francesca Albanese, the Hamas-sympathizing U.N. Special Rapporteur for the Palestinians.

The complaint, posed in a seven-page letter from U.N. Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, accused Albanese of “gross violations of U.N. rules and professional ethics,” as well as “disgraceful statements and actions that promote antisemitism and terrorism.”

The letter listed some of these “disgraceful statements,” including Albanese sending out a fundraising letter for the UNRWA — the Palestinian relief agency whose members were found to have participated in the October 7 atrocities against Jewish civilians — in which she claimed, “America is subjugated by the Jewish lobby.”

Neuer noted that Albanese “routinely portrays Israelis as Nazis” while she has “systematically whitewashed Hamas atrocities,” including the October 7 attack.

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The bulk of Neuer’s letter detailed the allegations of financial and ethical misconduct against Albanese, including a claim that she is “illegally requesting payments for work done in her official U.N. capacity” in violation of the U.N. Code of Conduct.

U.N. Watch provided copies of correspondence that showed Albanese finding a shortcut around the Code of Conduct to collect an honorarium for addressing pro-Hamas demonstrators at Columbia University on May 7.

One of Albanese’s assistants asked the organizers of the student protest to deposit the honorarium with a fellowship that “supports her mandate and work.” An unnamed “research institute” would then provide an invoice for the payment.

As Neuer’s letter pointed out, the wording of this correspondence made it plain that Albanese herself was proposing the shortcut around U.N. rules.

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U.N. Watch also requested an investigation of reports that Albanese received more than $20,000 in reimbursements from a pro-Palestinian lobby group to cover a half-dozen visits to Australia and New Zealand since the October 7 attacks. 

As the letter to Guterres and Turk pointed out, Albanese’s mandate as rapporteur to the Palestinians does not cover Australia, and there are no human rights abuses she could possibly have been “investigating” there. 

The special rapporteur is supposed to investigate violations of human rights, not help Palestinian political groups raise money or develop international influence. U.N. Watch pointed out that Albanese’s documented activities on behalf of Palestinian political organizations made a mockery of the “independence and impartiality” requirements for her position.

U.N. Watch further accused Albanese of lying when she denied the allegations of Palestinian groups financing her Australia travel, highlighting the awkward detail that Albanese based her denials on statements from the Palestinian lobbyists, not the U.N. agency she nominally works for.

Neuer suspected the U.N. hastily arranged repayments to the Palestinian lobbyists to cover up the embarrassment after U.N. Watch started asking questions, so he asked for full documentation of Albanese’s expenses on the Australia and New Zealand trips, with the receipts. He also asked if the U.N. could point to any prior instance of special rapporteurs traveling to countries outside of their mandates as guests of political lobbying groups.

“The disgraceful support for terrorism and promotion of antisemitism by U.N. Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese casts a shadow upon the reputation of the United Nations as [a] whole. This is now compounded by serious financial improprieties,” the U.N. Watch letter concluded.

“Francesca Albanese’s unethical financial practices are a gross violation of U.N. rules. The United Nations should take immediate action to investigate these allegations and hold her accountable,” Neuer said after sending the letter to Guterres and Turk.

On Tuesday, Neuer announced that he would travel to Albanese’s home country of Italy to present U.N. Watch’s dossier on Albanese to the media. 

“The day of reckoning is approaching,” he said.