https://www.scmp.com/rss/522840/feed The latest news and top stories on Francesca Albanese, an Italian legal scholar and human rights expert. She serves as the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, a role she assumed in May 2022 as the first woman to hold the position. Her responsibilities include assessing and reporting on human rights in the region. Previously, she worked for a decade as a human rights expert for the UN, advising on human rights for vulnerable... en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Alex Lo Alex Lo US ambassador to Nato Matthew Whitaker must have mistaken China for his boss, Donald Trump. After all, it was the US president who kept saying he could end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference last week, Whitaker claimed Beijing could stop Russia’s war in Ukraine in a day if it wanted to. “China could call Vladimir Putin and end this war tomorrow and cut off his dual-purpose technologies that they’re selling,” he said. “China could stop buying Russian oil... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3343643/china-and-un-are-not-problem-ukraine-and-palestine-west?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3343643/china-and-un-are-not-problem-ukraine-and-palestine-west?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Feb 2026 14:34:58 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Over a hundred top figures from the world of entertainment signed an open letter on Saturday in support of UN Palestinian human rights expert Francesca Albanese, who faces calls to resign over comments about the war in Gaza. France and Germany have called for Albanese to step down over remarks last weekend in which she referred to a “common enemy of humanity” after criticising “most of the world” and the media for enabling Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza. Critics and Israel have accused the UN... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3343596/world-artists-back-palestine-rapporteur-francesca-albanese-despite-criticism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3343596/world-artists-back-palestine-rapporteur-francesca-albanese-despite-criticism?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Feb 2026 15:17:56 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo It’s not for nothing that John Locke famously wrote that “life, liberty and property” are inalienable rights. The West, after all, has taught the world that property ownership, legally obtained, is sacrosanct. But what the West has imposed, it can also break. That is the real meaning of the rules-based international order, as opposed to international law: do what I say, not as I do. So the hardline European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been pressuring member states to support... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3336405/emerging-axis-lawlessness-european-union-united-states-and-israel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3336405/emerging-axis-lawlessness-european-union-united-states-and-israel?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Dec 2025 14:15:09 +0000 Tom Hussain Tom Hussain After two years of warfare with Hamas that the United Nations says has brought genocide and famine to Gaza, Israel finds itself more isolated than ever, as it remains intransigent in pursuing its goal of defeating the militant group and rejecting rising global support for Palestinian statehood. Many of its Western allies, including Australia, Britain, Canada and France, have recognised – albeit conditionally – the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority as the government of a non-existent... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3327045/us-backing-israels-rising-global-isolation-over-gaza-not-game-changer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3327045/us-backing-israels-rising-global-isolation-over-gaza-not-game-changer?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Sep 2025 08:00:15 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Organisers of a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying aid and pro-Palestinian activists said late Tuesday that another of their boats had been struck in a suspected drone attack off Tunisia’s coast. Aiming to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, the flotilla was due to resume its voyage on Wednesday after being delayed multiple times by weather and other issues. “Second night, second drone attack,” Melanie Schweizer, one of its coordinators, said. The British-flagged Alma was docked in Tunisian waters on... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3324966/gaza-aid-flotilla-says-second-boat-hit-suspected-drone-tunisian-waters?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3324966/gaza-aid-flotilla-says-second-boat-hit-suspected-drone-tunisian-waters?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Sep 2025 02:11:42 +0000 Reuters Reuters The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) for Gaza said on Tuesday that one of its main boats was struck by a drone at a port in Tunisia, though all six passengers and crew were safe. Tunisia’s interior ministry said that reports of a drone hitting a boat at its Sidi Bou Said port “have no basis in truth”, and that a fire broke out on the vessel itself. The Portuguese-flagged boat, carrying the flotilla’s steering committee, sustained fire damage to its main deck and below-deck storage, the GSF said in a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3324852/tunisia-denies-gaza-aid-flotilla-boat-was-hit-drone-port?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3324852/tunisia-denies-gaza-aid-flotilla-boat-was-hit-drone-port?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Sep 2025 06:10:53 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo International human rights lawyers and prosecutors are supposed to go after enemies of the West. Though unwritten, their job is understood to uphold double, not universal, standards. Unfortunately, some braver ones sometimes forget their place. When powerful Western leaders or their friends are investigated for things like war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and ethnic cleansing, things won’t go well at The Hague. Recent news reports have exposed a clandestine campaign against the... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3321129/how-clandestine-campaign-undercut-iccs-case-against-israel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3321129/how-clandestine-campaign-undercut-iccs-case-against-israel?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Aug 2025 13:30:07 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Tony Soprano would have been proud. Sitting as an observer, a legal adviser of the US State Department threatened the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) oversight body that “all options are on the table” against the court. “To be clear, we expect all ICC actions against the United States and our ally Israel – that is, all investigations and all arrest warrants – to be terminated,” Reed Rubinstein told the Assembly of State Parties in New York last week. “We will use all appropriate and... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3318456/end-international-law-and-law-war-we-know-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3318456/end-international-law-and-law-war-we-know-it?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Jul 2025 13:00:09 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Genocides committed or sponsored by the West have often been a highly profitable business. Whether it was against the native American population in the United States throughout much of the 19th century, the colonisation of the Congo by King Leopold II of Belgium, or the Nazi Holocaust, many individuals and companies have profited greatly from humanity’s worst crimes – through direct participation or by providing services and support. A new report by Francesca Albanese, the courageous UN special... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3317502/its-time-business-stop-profiting-israels-economy-genocide?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3317502/its-time-business-stop-profiting-israels-economy-genocide?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Jul 2025 01:00:11 +0000