After obtaining official notice that the UN Human Right Council president is refusing to carry out his legal duty under 8/PRST/2 to convey to the plenary objections filed by the US Congress and others against Francesca Albanese’s reappointment on Friday, UN Watch’s has submitted a notice of illegality to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres.
View the Notice of Illegality here
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
The United Nations
New York, NY 10027
United States
April 3, 2025
Re: Willful Breach of Council Procedure and Obstruction of Review Regarding the Reappointment of Ms. Francesca Albanese
Your Excellency,
I am writing to express grave concerns about the UN’s handling of credible allegations of persistent misconduct by Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, and the serious procedural violations now being carried out under the leadership of Amb. Jürg Lauber as President of the Human Rights Council.
As you are well aware, Presidential Statement 8/PRST/2, adopted by consensus in 2008 and reaffirmed in the Manual of Operations of the Special Procedures, imposes a clear and binding obligation: “The President of the Human Rights Council will convey to the Council information brought to his or her attention… concerning cases of persistent non-compliance by a mandate-holder,” particularly in advance of reappointments. This text is not an obscure guideline, but rather has been described by international law experts as one of the Council’s core “institution building texts.”
Yet, instead of respecting this solemnn obligation, the President has chosen to circumvent the Council entirely. As evidenced in the minutes of the April 1, 2025 Bureau meeting, attached here together with the March 28th letter from the Coordination Committee, he and other members of the Bureau have decided that, rather than transmit the complaints and supporting documentation to the Council as required, he would instead forward them to the Coordination Committee-a body with no mandate to replace the Council’s specific role in reviewing misconduct or deciding reappointments, and which is composed of Ms. Albanese’s friends.
This is not a misunderstanding. It is a deliberate misrepresentation of the President’s duty under 8/PRST/2, which explicitly names the Council-not the Coordination Committee-as the body to which such allegations must be conveyed.
The President has received multiple formal communications from Member States and NGOs, including a detailed 60-page submission from UN Watch, outlining repeated, public, and documented breaches by Ms. Albanese of the Code of Conduct. He is obliged to convey all this to the Council before it can take action for or against the reappointment of Ms. Albanese.
You are hereby advised of the following: This dereliction of duty severely undermines the legal and procedural validity of any reappointment. Should Ms. Albanese be tacitly renewed without the Council ever having received and considered the complaints, that reappointment would be carried out in flagrant violation of Council rules and may be considered ultra vires and a legal nullity, with all associated legal consequences.
Moreover, the implications go beyond internal UN process. In jurisdictions such as the United States, where legal immunity may be challenged, courts may rightly question whether a mandate extended through procedural fraud can still convey the protections of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations. Your refusal to follow the Council’s own procedures risks exposing both Ms. Albanese and the institution to civil liability.
The truth is stark: 8/PRST/2 remains valid, binding, and in force. No amount of creative bureaucracy or backdoor diplomacy will change that. The current course of action-hiding behind the Coordination Committee to avoid Council scrutiny-strips the reappointment process of all transparency and legitimacy.
We therefore urge the UN to reverse course and ensure that the President immediately convey to the Council all communications and complaints received concerning Ms. Albanese, as explicitly required. To do anything less is to flout the UN’s obligations, distort institutional procedures, and make a mockery of accountability within the Special Procedures system.
I remain at your disposal to provide any further documentation necessary.
Sincerely,
Hillel C. Neuer
Executive Director
CC:
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy
Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly
Human Rights Council President Jürg Lauber
BREAKING: We obtained official notice that the UN Human Right Council president is refusing to carry out his legal duty under 8/PRST/2 to convey to the plenary objections filed by the US Congress et al against Francesca Albanese's reappointment on Friday.https://t.co/lOyQugJCc0
- Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) April 3, 2025
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
The United Nations
New York, NY 10027
United StatesApril 3, 2025
Re: Willful Breach of Council Procedure and Obstruction of Review Regarding the Reappointment of Ms. Francesca Albanese
Your Excellency,
I am writing to express grave concerns…
- Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) April 3, 2025
3/ Now meet the “Coordination Committee” that just conducted a fake inquiry on Francesca Albanese. Tlaleng Mofokeng was a member & Chair. She called me “evil scum white man” after I called for her to be disciplined for tweeting “F**k off” to Israel's PM:https://t.co/llXGlVuQCQ pic.twitter.com/S8DABYLz8b
- Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) April 3, 2025
