Thank you for that timely question, because the appointment is to happen in a few weeks.
Indeed, I do have concerns about the nomination of Francesca Albanese for this position as special rapporteur on Palestine. Those concerns would have been expressed by Stéphane Dion, Canada's foreign minister several years ago. When the current mandate holder, Michael Lynk, was nominated six years ago, Canada's foreign minister at the time, Stéphane Dion, said that the nomination violated the council's principles of objectivity and impartiality, because the candidate Michael Lynk had a lengthy record of making prejudicial statements and engaging in campaigning to target Israel, was not objective or impartial, and was motivated by political considerations. In this case, the candidate once again is the product of a politicized process. Francesca Albanese is a lifelong campaigner against Israel. She has accused Israel of being a racist state, a colonial state, and her husband is someone who has worked for the Palestinian government. These are conflicts of interest that she has not disclosed. In addition, she is a lifelong anti-Israel lobbyist. She does not hide that.
The Canadian ambassador here several years ago, Ambassador Golberg, when she was sitting in the consultative group, tried to select someone named Christina Cerna, who had no record of politicization and bias. That was rejected by the council, and the Arab and Islamic countries said they specifically wanted someone who was “an expert”. What they meant was that they wanted someone who was completely anti-Israel. That is contrary to the founding resolutions of the council, which require that someone be impartial and objective. There's no question that a brief review of the application of Francesca Albanese will show that she has been a lifelong campaigner for the Palestinian cause. She supports “resistance” and she's not shy about that including violence against Israel.
She is completely inappropriate, and I do hope the Canadian government, as they did six years ago when Michael Lynk was nominated wrongly and they called for a review, do the same thing prior to the appointment, which will take place in about four weeks' time. I hope the Canadian government expresses their support for the founding principles of the council, which require impartiality and not the opposite, politicization.