Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, is coming to Portugal at the invitation of the Iscte Centre for International Studies (CEI-Iscte) at the beginning of October. Francesca Albanese will be speaking at the Opening Conference of the Masters programmes in International Studies and Humanitarian Action, and the PhD in International Studies. The conference is entitled ‘Anatomy of a Genocide: A Failure of the International System?’ and will take place on 2 October, starting at 6pm, in the JJ Laginha auditorium, Iscte building 1.
Francesca Albanese, who has been the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine since 2022, is a lawyer and expert on the Palestinian refugee issue, the longest and most protracted refugee situation since the Second World War. She is a research associate at Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of International Migration and a senior advisor on migration and forced displacement at the think tank Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD), where she co-founded the Global Network on the Question of Palestine (GNQP), a coalition of leading practitioners and academics engaged in Israel/Palestine.
Francesca Albanese has published numerous works on the legal situation in Israel/Palestine; 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 the current reality. Francesca Albanese worked for ten years with the United Nations (2003-2013), including the Legal Affairs Department of UNRWA (based in Jerusalem), dealing mainly with the application of a human rights approach through the agency’s work in support of its protection function, and OHCHR (based in Geneva), with a remit covering national human rights institutions in the MENA region and then in the Asia-Pacific region. During this period, their work centred on strengthening the independence and effectiveness of national human rights institutions, particularly in the field of torture prevention.
PROGRAMME
2nd October, Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon
6pm (JJ Laginha Auditorium, Iscte) – Opening Conference of the Master’s and Doctorate in International Studies and the Master’s in Humanitarian Action ‘Anatomy of a Genocide: A Failure of the International System?’
– Opening Session
– Introduction of the events by CEI Deputy Director Giulia Daniele
– Presentation of the speaker by CEI Director Ana Mónica Fonseca, who moderates the session
3rd October – Sala Fernando Pessoa, Centro Cultural de Belém
18h00 – Civil society session: ‘Palestine and International Law: Between Hope and the Abyss’, organised and moderated by Sandra Monteiro – Director of Le Monde diplomatique (Portuguese version)