UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has been operating an international network entitled the “Global Network on Question of Palestine” (GNQP) aimed at targeting Israel, according to a UN Watch report earlier this week.
Via GNQP, Albanese has been coordinating legal campaigns against Israel, justifying Hamas's actions, and advocating for the funding of UNRWA, the report stated.
The report found that the network's members include some 100 people and NGOs, such as UN, UNRWA, Palestinian, and PLO officials, along with pro-Palestinian academics and activists.
Among the institutions listed as members by the reports are the Palestinian Return Center, which Israel has deemed an “unlawful association” due to its Hamas affiliation, according to NGO Monitor, and the Ramallah-based Palestinian non-governmental human rights organization Al-Haq.
The UN Watch report maintained that to encourage UNRWA funding, network members were told to utilize “overtly racist messaging” to raise the subjects of “illegal immigration” in Europe, specifically when speaking with right-wing and anti-immigration governmental officials. According to the report, this would fuel the fear that failing to fund UNWRA would signify that “millions of Palestinians are forced to flee the Middle East."
The report also found that one of the network members is Kjersti G. Berg, who is also a member of the CMI group, which took part in the independent review of UNRWA. According to UN Watch, Berg partakes in the majority of CMI’s UNRWA publications. She claims that the accusations that the organization’s educational program incites to violence are false and advocates for UNRWA funding.
Accusing Israel of genocide
According to the report, senior network official Lex Takkenberg is a UNRWA ex-legal counsel and chief ethics inspector. Both Takkenberg and Albanese are funded by the ARDD, an Amman-based organization that receives donations from the European Union, the US, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland, in addition to UNHCR, UNOCHA, and UN Women.
According to the UN Watch report, 10 days after October 7, Albanese’s GNQP accused Israel of committing genocide, stating, that the “assault by the Israeli occupation power on the Gaza Strip beginning on the 7th of October” was, in fact, “genocide under international law.” The statement also called for countries to bring charges against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). On November 21, Takkenberg stated the group was “among the first to contribute to the discussion on genocide after October 7.”
Following the ICJ provisional ruling on January 26, the GNQP welcomed the move and stated that countries helping Israel held “third-party responsibility” and should be held legally accountable.