Francesca Albanese

Francesca Paola Albanese is an Italian legal scholar and expert on human rights. She has served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories since 1 May 2022; initially appointed for a three-year term, she was confirmed for another three years in April 2025. She is the first woman to hold the position, and has a law degree from the University of Pisa and a Master of Laws in human rights from SOAS University of London.
As part of her position as a UN special rapporteur, Albanese has been critical of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories and recommended in her first report that UN member states develop a plan to end the occupation and apartheid. After the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip following the October 7 attacks in 2023, Albanese called for an immediate ceasefire and warned that Palestinians in Gaza were at risk of ethnic cleansing. In March 2024, Albanese reported to the UN Human Rights Council that Israel's actions in Gaza amounted to genocide.