UN Watch Urges Guterres to Fire Francesca Albanese Following Georgetown Termination
Geneva, Dec. 31, 2025 - UN Watch today called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (see letter below) to immediately terminate UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, following Georgetown University’s decision to sever all ties with her for grave ethical violations.
In a formal letter sent today to the Secretary-General, UN Watch documented that Albanese’s conduct has repeatedly violated the UN’s own Code of Conduct and has gravely undermined the credibility of the UN human rights system. Albanese has been denounced by France, Germany, Canada, Italy, and the Netherlands for antisemitism and Holocaust inversion, and has been sanctioned by the United States. Despite this, the UN has taken no disciplinary action.
“Georgetown University has done what the United Nations has refused to do,” said Hillel C. Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch. “The UN cannot credibly claim to stand against hate and extremism while protecting an official condemned by democratic governments for antisemitism and sanctioned for ethical breaches. Silence is no longer an option.”
The letter further urges the Secretary-General to publicly denounce Albanese for misleading the United Nations and the public about her academic status. UN Watch documented that although Georgetown terminated Albanese’s affiliation by August 2025, she continued for months thereafter to falsely present herself-on official UN webpages, at public events in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and on Wikipedia-as a Georgetown scholar.
“This was not a clerical error. It was a deliberate pattern of deception,” Neuer added. “An individual entrusted with a UN mandate must meet the highest standards of integrity and honesty. Ms. Albanese has repeatedly failed that test.”
UN Watch also called on the Secretary-General to correct the official UN website to accurately reflect that Georgetown severed ties with Albanese following international condemnation and U.S. sanctions, and to acknowledge that her mandate was never lawfully renewed and should be declared to have ended on April 30.
“Accountability cannot be selective,” said Neuer. “If the UN wishes to restore trust in its human rights machinery, it must act decisively, starting now.”
About UN Watch
UN Watch is a Geneva-based independent non-governmental organization that monitors the performance of the United Nations by the standards of its own Charter and promotes human rights worldwide.
