Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur overseeing the occupied Palestinian territories, addressed the Canadian government during a visit to Montreal on Sunday and reminded it of its obligations in terms of international law.
She presented her most recent report, titled Genocide as colonial erasure and said the Palestinian people are victims of what she termed “the first live-streamed colonial genocide.”
The special rapporteur, who was appointed to her role on May 1, 2022, has been accused by some of antisemitism for her comments about Israel.
“The violence which Israel has unleashed against the Palestinians since the aftermath of Oct. 7 does not arise from nothing, but is part of an intentional campaign orchestrated by the state to systematically provoke the forced displacement of Palestinians,” Albanese wrote in her report.
“This trajectory risks causing an irreparable wrong to the very survival of Palestinian people in Palestine.”
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages. Based on the latest Israeli intelligence estimates, roughly half the 101 hostage still being held by Hamas in Gaza are alive.
Israel’s ensuing war against Hamas has since laid waste to the Gaza Strip and killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, including 17,000 children.
Albanese demanded countries including Canada respect their “obligations with regard to the UN Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.”
Addressing her remarks to Ottawa, Albanese said: “I ask that Canada conform to its obligations emanating from international law.” She invited the federal government to do an audit in order to identify all forms of its collaboration with Israel — military, economic, political and others.
Albanese said she was “in shock” when she learned Quebec had opened a trade office in Tel Aviv in June, even as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continued to rage and tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians had been killed.
“Silence, or worse, the justification on the part of a small, but influential number of states, continued to allow and nurture the arrogance that is at the origins of Israeli behaviour today, as we talk,” she said.
“It is extremely troubling to see countries which are members of the United Nations pontificate, call into question and cloud the meaning of international law and dehumanizing the victims of these past 12 months.”
Albanese lamented the situation on the Gaza strip, which “is metastasizing now on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem” at the expense of Palestinian civilian lives.
The objective of the Montreal event, organized by the Ligue des droits et libertés and the Coalition du Québec URGENCE Palestine, to call out the Canadian and Quebec governments on their position toward the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A Coalition du Québec urgence Palestine spokesperson said “Canada is complicit in the genocide perpetrated by Israel, notably by its position as an ally of Israel and its appeals for a ceasefire without economic sanctions and without a complete and immediate embargo on arms destined for Israel.”
Global Affairs Canada told Presse Canadienne that Canada “deeply preoccupied by the conflict in Gaza and its grave humanitarian consequences for civilian populations in particular.”
“The rule of low is a founding principle of Canada and a pillar of our democracy. We were clear: No one is above the law,” added Global Affairs Canada. “All nations are called upon to respect international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”
The Canadian government added it “continues to demand an immediate ceasefire, the freeing of the hostages and a rapid increase in humanitarian aide to the civilian population of Gaza.
Albanese said she plans to visit other Canadian cities in the coming days. Neither Ottawa nor Quebec have come forward to meet her, she said, but she is open to meeting them.