SOAS University of London

Despite the ongoing characterisation of the war on Gaza as intimately linked to the events of October 7, 2023, the unfolding atrocities and patterns of genocidal violence committed in the occupied Palestinian territory have much broader and deeper roots.

In this thought-provoking and timely lecture, a year after Israel declared its war against Hamas, Francesca Albanese will situate the current war within its historical antecedents. Drawing from her ongoing work at the United Nations, she will ask us all to consider what is happening in Palestine, who is responsible and what may yet be done about it.

About the speaker:
Francesca Albanese is an international lawyer, specialised in human rights and the Middle East. Since May 2022, she has served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.

An affiliate scholar at the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University,  Albanese is the author of many leading publications on the international law dimensions of Israel/Palestine including (with Lex Takkenberg) the highly acclaimed Palestinian Refugees in International Law (Second edition, Oxford  University Press, 2020).