United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2803 violates Palestine’s right to self-determination, Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese stated on Wednesday, calling it “security-first, capital-driven model of foreign control” that entrenches existing power asymmetries. Albanese, a UN expert appointed as Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said that the resolution consolidates Israel’s unlawful presence in the Palestinian Territory and legitimizes ongoing violence.

Albanese charged that the resolution fails to abide by international human rights law, international law governing the use of force, and the principles of the UN Charter. Article 1(2) of the UN Charter grounds relations between states on “the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples.” Article 2(4) prohibits member states from using “force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state,” notwithstanding Article 42, which authorizes the UNSC to use military force “as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security.”

Albanese said the resolution legitimizes Israeli domination over Palestinians without sufficiently protecting civilian populations. “Rather than charting a pathway toward ending the occupation and ensuring Palestinian protection, the resolution risks entrenching external control over Gaza’s governance, borders, security, and reconstruction,” Albanese said. “A military force answering to a so-called ‘Board of Peace’ chaired by the President of the United States, an active party to this conflict that has continually provided military, economic and diplomatic support to the illegal occupying Power, is not legal.”

Albanese cited the International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion issued on July 19, 2024 urging states to support “the immediate and unconditional withdrawal” of Israeli presence in Palestinian territory. She advised that states are obliged to assist the Palestinian people’s realization of their right to self-determination. In place of the current UNSC resolution, she asked the international community to lift the blockade over Gaza, resume humanitarian access, and support Palestinian self-governance.

UNSC Resolution 2803 was adopted on Monday by a vote with 13 members of the UNSC voting in favor, with Russia and China abstaining. It endorses US President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan, recognizing the “Board of Peace” and authorizing it to establish a temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF) to oversee Gaza’s governance. Under the US-led plan, the ISF, Israel, Egypt, and a newly-trained Palestinian police force would secure border areas, monitor humanitarian operations, and enforce the disarmament of Hamas. The US-led plan also calls on the IDF to withdraw from the Gaza strip based on a demilitarization timeframe agreed upon between the ISF, Israel, and the US.

Albanese has been sanctioned by the US for her work with the International Criminal Court, which issued arrest warrants for Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding alleged war crimes. The US mission to the UN accused Albanese of “a years-long pattern of virulent antisemitism and unrelenting anti-Israel bias.”