After allegations surfaced that pro-Hamas groups funded a November 2023 trip to Australia and New Zealand for Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for Palestinian rights, the United Nations stated that everything was kosher about the trip.
“With respect to the Australia trip by the special rapporteur, her travel was funded by the United Nations,” the U.N. Human Rights Office told JNS last year.
A U.N. Coordination Committee of Special Procedures report, which was released on March 28, stated that the committee learned from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights that the regular U.N. budget covered Albanese’s travel to Australia “in line with applicable rules and regulations.”
Albanese, though, received “partial external funding for internal trips within Australia and New Zealand,” according to the report—external funding which the global body hadn’t previously disclosed.
Still, the report found nothing amiss there either. “It is common practice for organizers of conferences to cover the costs of mandate holders’ participation,” per the report, which noted that “mandate holders do not receive sufficient resources from the United Nations to implement their mandates.”
It added that advisers, like Albanese, ought to “exercise due diligence in assessing potential sponsorships from any organizations in a way that does not result in real or perceived conflict of interest.”
At a recent U.N. press briefing, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for António Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, said that “we support transparency in the activities of any official affiliated with the United Nations.”
Anne Herzberg, a legal adviser to NGO Monitor, told JNS that there is “tremendous secrecy in the entire special procedures process.”
“It’s very opaque,” she said.
It makes no sense for the United Nations to try to classify “external funding for internal travel” in a separate, more secretive category than the direct travel funding it provides from its regular budget, according to Herzberg.
“Everything should be disclosed,” she said.
Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, told JNS that “though the U.N.’s long-delayed inquiry into our complaint about Albanese’s ethical abuses is mostly a whitewash conducted by her own cronies, even they were forced to confirm that Albanese took funding from pro-Hamas lobby groups.”
“This contradicts Albanese’s own previous denials, which are now exposed as an attempted cover-up,” Neuer said. “This constitutes a material violation of the U.N.’s code of conduct, and we are therefore calling on her to resign immediately.”
‘Regular budget’
The Australian Friends of Palestine Association, which called Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s testimony “incredibly moving,” had said publicly that it “sponsored” Albanese’s visit, and Free Palestine Melbourne, the Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network and Palestinian Christians in Australia said they “supported” it.
The internal U.N. report did not directly address the allegations that pro-Hamas groups funded the internal travel in Australia and New Zealand, nor did it say if the United Nations covered Albanese’s travel from Australia to New Zealand or her return trip from New Zealand.
UN Watch estimates that the Australia trip, during which it says that Albanese raised funds for a Palestinian lobby group, cost about $22,000. The New Zealand trip included a meeting “to lobby a major New Zealand sovereign wealth fund to divest from Israel-related companies,” per UN Watch.
JNS sought comment repeatedly from several U.N. agencies and officials last year about the funding for Albanese’s trip. After the global body told JNS that it had covered Albanese’s travel, JNS asked for documentation, including approvals or receipts. The United Nations did not provide either.
Last June, Albanese wrote that “like all other special rapporteurs, I perform my duties without financial compensation to preserve my independence.” In November 2023, she stated that “my trip to Australia was paid by the U.N. as part of my mandate’s activities.”
The U.N. Special Procedures media office told JNS that “with regard to the special rapporteur’s visit to Australia, her travel was funded by the United Nations regular budget.”
“The Coordination Committee of Special Procedures assessed the allegations concerning partial external funding for internal travel within Australia and New Zealand and concluded that there was no breach of the code of conduct,” the media office said.
“The committee noted that it is common practice for conference organizers to cover the participation costs of mandate holders, and such arrangements do not constitute a violation of the established standards,” it told JNS.
JNS asked the U.N. Human Rights Office and Special Procedures Media Office several times for details about which portions of Albanese’s trip were funded externally and by which organizations.
The Special Procedures Media Office told JNS that the suggestion that the Human Rights Office lied in July 2024 when it said that it paid for the trip is a “regrettable and unfair mischaracterization.”
The office sought to differentiate between travel costs to a destination and “internal travel” within the destination. JNS asked why the United Nations didn’t disclose what it now calls “internal travel” in July. (At the time, the global body didn’t respond to questions.)
‘Look into that’
JNS asked Jürg Lauber, president of the U.N. Human Rights Council, on Friday if he would support releasing all of the information about the funding for Albanese’s trip and direct his media offices to be more open with journalists, who are inquiring about matters under the council’s purview.
Lauber, who took office in January, said that Albanese’s travel predates his tenure and “what was important for me is that the coordination committee did not come to the conclusion that there was an issue with Mrs. Albanese’s compliance with the code of conduct.”
JNS asked why the special procedures office didn’t initially disclose the funding, Lauber said that he would “look into that with the secretariat.”
“I’m welcoming the exchange with the media anytime, so I hope I will not be perceived as not being forthcoming in our exchanges,” he told JNS.
Despite opposition, including from the U.S. mission to the United Nations, Albanese’s mandate was renewed on April 4 for another three years.
The U.N. report also concluded that Albanese hasn’t made antisemitic remarks—an accusation that Israel and other countries, including the United States, have made, as have many Jewish leaders.
The report reserved some of its strongest criticism for Israel.
“The committee also notes with concern that while the special rapporteur, since the early days of her mandate, has sought to establish formal relations with the State of Israel that would enable her to fulfil the task entrusted to her by the Human Rights Council, Israel never accepted to engage and cooperate with her mandate,” it states.
The committee also “put on record that it is deeply concerned by the intimidation and personal attacks faced by the special rapporteur, which have escalated in severity and scope recently.”
It added that it “condemns in the strongest terms the coordinated campaign against the special rapporteur and the negative consequences on her families and those working with her, as well as the attempt to undermine her work and reputation.”