Spain honours UN rapporteur Albanese with Order of Civil Merit

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez awarded Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, the Order of Civil Merit during a ceremony in Madrid on 7 May 2026.

The honour, one of Spain's highest civilian distinctions, was presented in recognition of what the Spanish government described as Albanese's extensive work in documenting and denouncing violations of international law in Gaza.

"Public responsibility also brings with it a moral obligation not to look the other way," Sánchez said at the ceremony. "It is an honour to bestow the Order of Civil Merit on a voice that upholds the conscience of the world."

Albanese is an Italian human rights lawyer who has served as the UN's special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories. In that role, she has been among the most prominent international voices characterising Israel's military operations in Gaza as genocide.

She has also criticised the broader international community for what she describes as its failure to prevent and punish torture, genocide, and other serious human rights violations.

Sánchez, who has established himself as one of the most vocal European critics of Israel's conduct in Gaza, has separately written to the European Union requesting that it move to block US sanctions imposed against Albanese.

In that correspondence, Sánchez argued the sanctions represent what he called a very worrying precedent that compromises the independent workings of institutions essential to international justice.

Albanese's visit to Madrid

The day before the ceremony, on 6 May, Albanese visited the Reina Sofía museum in Madrid, where she stood before Pablo Picasso's Guernica — the artist's depiction of the 1937 Nazi bombing of the Basque town of the same name.

Speaking in front of the painting, she said the destruction it depicted was reminiscent of what the world has witnessed in Gaza.

Albanese also addressed the state of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, dismissing its significance. "Those in power are pushing for the world to take its eye off Gaza and for it to be forgotten about," she said. "And that's what most of the world has done."

At a separate event in the Spanish capital on the same evening, Albanese renewed her criticisms of Israel and of the international community's response.

Drawing on the language of the Palestinian rights movement, she said: "There is a genocide against the entire Palestinian people from the river to the sea: the aim is destruction and the result is also destruction."

Albanese praised Spain's government for its position on Gaza and its efforts to contest the US sanctions. She also warned that Israel's actions had established a dangerous precedent for the erosion of international law.

"The moment we're in is an apocalypse," she was quoted as saying by Spanish outlet elDiario.es. "A lot of people have woken up but it's not enough."

She elaborated on what she described as a doctrinal shift in the conduct of armed conflict, referencing remarks she had made in March 2024. "I said that if we didn't stop Israel, there would be a change in the rules of war. And then six months later, that was happening in Lebanon and it's now happening in Iran, and they call it the Gaza doctrine."

Albanese is currently promoting her book, When the World Sleeps: Stories, Words and Wounds of Palestine.

US sanctions and the campaign to silence her

The award comes amid a period of sustained institutional and political pressure against Albanese. The United States government imposed sanctions on her after she urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate American and Israeli companies and individuals over their alleged complicity in gross human rights violations.

German authorities have also examined her use of language, with Albanese facing the prospect of arrest over her characterisation of events in Gaza.

Background: the February 2026 campaign against her resignation

Earlier in 2026, Albanese faced a coordinated campaign calling for her resignation, which drew condemnation from human rights bodies and UN-affiliated figures.

The campaign was in large part driven by UN Watch, a pro-Israel non-governmental organisation (NGO) that is not affiliated with the United Nations. UN Watch disseminated an edited clip of Albanese speaking at the Al Jazeera Forum, in which the NGO falsely attributed to her the claim that Israel was "the common enemy of humanity."

Albanese's actual words, as recorded in her unedited address, were: "We now see that we as a humanity have a common enemy and the respect of fundamental freedoms is the last peaceful avenue, the last peaceful toolbox that we have to regain our freedom."

The doctored clip attracted the attention of European officials in Austria, Czechia, France, Germany, and Italy. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called for Albanese's resignation as early as 11 February 2026, following a letter from a group of French members of parliament that described her remarks as anti-Semitic.

France's Foreign Ministry subsequently published a statement on social media denying that Barrot's calls were connected to the edited video. Spokesperson Pascal Confavreux posted on X that Barrot had separately written to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in April 2025 to oppose Albanese's automatic renewal as special rapporteur, citing what he described as multiple shortcomings that would weaken the credibility of UN mechanisms.

Despite the controversy, Barrot did not retract his call for her resignation.

Amnesty International and UN bodies push back

Amnesty International's Secretary-General Agnes Callamard issued a statement in February 2026 condemning the governments involved.

"It is reprehensible that ministers in Austria, Czechia, France, Germany and Italy have attacked the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Francesca Albanese, based on a deliberately truncated video," Callamard said. She demanded that the ministers retract their statements and issue an apology.

Callamard was direct in her assessment of the political dynamics. "If only these ministers had been as loud and forceful in confronting a state committing genocide, unlawful occupation and apartheid as they have in attacking a UN expert," she wrote.

UNRWA also defended Albanese, stating that the attacks against her aimed to silence independent human rights reporting mechanisms. The UN agency described the campaign as part of coordinated efforts to discredit those who speak out about human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law.

Chris Gunness, the former UNRWA communications director, told Al Jazeera that pro-Israel politicians in donor-country governments bore significant responsibility for the attacks on Albanese.

"They allowed purveyors of industrial-scale fake news, doctored soundbites, anti-Palestinian hate speech and genocide denial, to blague their way into national parliaments and have a voice in the discourse around Palestine refugees," Gunness said.

Amid the political controversy, a comment from Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, drew criticism from some UN staff members. While affirming the importance of the special rapporteur system to international human rights architecture, Dujarric said the UN did not always agree with what special rapporteurs say, including Albanese.

Critics noted that Dujarric had not specifically addressed the falsified nature of the quotes attributed to Albanese, nor called on member states to respect the integrity of the UN human rights system.

More than 100 artists also publicly backed Albanese in February 2026 as calls for her resignation intensified among pro-Israeli governments and advocacy groups.