Maynooth University welcomed Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestine, to campus on Wednesday for a public lecture, her first such engagement on a four-day visit to Ireland to raise awareness about the situation in Palestine.
She addressed an audience of over 400 people on campus in a lecture titled: Genocide in Palestine: A Tragedy Foretold — What's Next and What is Ireland's Role?
In her lecture she spoke about her work as UN Special Rapporteur, the unfolding situation in Palestine and addressed the legal and ethical duties for the international community in general, and for Ireland in particular.
The event was hosted by MU’s School of Law and Criminology, together with the Research Centre in International Justice, Academics for Palestine, Trócaire and Sadaka, the Ireland Palestine Alliance.
Professor Fergus Ryan, Head of the School of Law and Criminology said: "It is a great honour to welcome the UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese to Maynooth. We are privileged to hear her speak on the vitally important issue of robustly upholding human rights, international law generally and specifically international humanitarian law in the context of the distressing ongoing situation in the Middle East, particularly in Palestine and especially in Gaza."
Francesca Albanese is an international lawyer, specialised in human rights and the Middle East, and has served as the UN’s Special Rapporteur since March 2022. Since her appointment, she has addressed the human rights situation in Palestine in her reports to the UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council. She has also provided ongoing analysis and documentation of the situation in Gaza and the West Bank in regular collective statements with other UN Special Rapporteurs and in her public interventions.
During her Irish visit, she plans to meet with politicians, trade unions and civil society organisations and to participate in a number of public events to raise awareness about the current situation in Palestine.
An Affiliate Scholar at the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University, and a Senior Advisor on Migration and Forced Displacement for the Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD), Francesca worked for a decade as a UN human rights expert, including for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Her latest book, Palestinian Refugees in International Law (Oxford University Press, 2020), offers a comprehensive legal analysis of the situation of Palestinian refugees from its origins to modern-day reality. She regularly teaches and lectures on international law and forced displacement in European and Arab universities and speaks frequently at conferences and public events on the legal situation of Palestine.