• Ex-HRW director says report was axed over ‘political backlash’; claims shelved text brand denial of refugee return as ‘crime against humanity’
• Czech FM leads smear on Francesca Albanese; envoy blasts critics for targeting her while ignoring Gaza child deaths
AMMAN: More than a week after he walked away from Human Rights Watch over its blocking of a report on Palestinians’ right of return, the organisation’s former country director says he is still fuming over the lack of a transparent explanation.
Omar Shakir, ex-HRW Israel and Palestine director, resigned in February after the executive director withdrew a report on Palestinian return rights before its December release.
“The report finds that Israeli authorities’ longstanding policy denying Palestinian refugees the right of return, a fundamental right well-established in law, has caused serious harm and amounts to a crime against humanity,” Shakir told AFP in Amman.
Shakir, who resigned alongside his research colleague Milena Ansari, said the organisation has not provided a written reason for pulling the report. When the story became public, Shakir said, HRW stated the report had been “paused to give them more time to conduct additional factual and legal analysis”.
Meanwhile, HRW told AFP the report’s release was delayed due to its complexity. Their review revealed the need for stronger research to meet standards, leading to a pause for further analysis, which is ongoing.
Shakir believes the decision was due to political backlash, as HRW’s new leadership worried the report might be perceived as a call to eliminate Israel’s Jewish identity.
“So, ultimately, this was not about the law or the facts,” he said. “This was a decision motivated by concerns of how the organisation would be received when issuing this report.
The “right of return” is central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, dating back to the 1948 war. Approximately 760,000 Palestinians were displaced in the Nakba, or “catastrophe”, with descendants now numbering six million according to the UN. Israel sees this demand as a threat to its Jewish identity.
Smear campaign
Meanwhile, a UN human rights spokesperson on Friday expressed concern about attacks on independent UN experts after several European governments criticised Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur for Palestine, and called for her resignation.
“We are very worried. We are concerned that UN officials, independent experts and judicial officials, are increasingly subjected to personal attacks, threats and misinformation that distracts from the serious human rights issues,” UN human rights office spokesperson Marta Hurtado told a press briefing.
The Czech Republic’s Foreign Minister Petr Macinka on Friday quoted Albanese on X as having called Israel a “common enemy of humanity”, and he also called for her resignation.
Subsequently, Germany, France, and Italy criticised Albanese this week for remarks against Israel, accusations she refutes.
Albanese’s February 7 remarks in Doha did not label Israel as such although she has regularly criticised its actions in the Gaza conflict, Reuters confirmed.
Albanese said on X: “Three European governments accuse me — based on statements I never made — with a virulence and conviction that they have NEVER used against those who have slaughtered 20,000+ children in 858 days.” She was citing figures from the Palestinian Health Ministry, which puts the total death toll from the Gaza war at more than 72,000.
Though unprecedented, it’s theoretically possible to introduce a motion to dismiss a special rapporteur, however, diplomats said strong support for Palestinian rights within the UN Human Rights Council means such a motion is unlikely to pass.
Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2026
