OFAC adds Francesca Albanese to SDN List under ICC-related sanctions program

WASHINGTON, May 27, 2026 — The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added Francesca Paola Albanese to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List under the ICC-related sanctions program, according to an OFAC notice published May 27. The entry identifies Albanese as an Italian national based in Tunis, Tunisia, and cites the sanctions authority as “ICC-EO14203.”

Albanese is the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, a post she has held since May 2022, according to the U.N. human rights office.

The designation sits within the U.S. sanctions framework created by Executive Order 14203, issued by the White House in February 2025, titled “Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court.” The order set out authorities to target foreign persons tied to certain ICC actions involving U.S. or allied nationals without consent.

The move follows a State Department statement published July 9, 2025, in which Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was imposing sanctions on Albanese pursuant to Executive Order 14203, alleging that she had directly engaged with the ICC in efforts to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute U.S. and Israeli nationals without those countries’ consent.

As an SDN designation, Albanese’s property and interests in property subject to U.S. jurisdiction are generally blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealings with her unless authorized by OFAC. That is the standard effect of an SDN listing under U.S. sanctions rules.