In a rare break from its own vetting process, the U.N. Human Rights Council is set to bypass its top-ranked candidate to appoint a Palestinian academic who has defended Hamas, justified “resistance” violence, and blamed the West—not terrorists—for the October 7 bloodshed.
On March 31st, at the end of the 61st Session of the U.N. Human Rights Council, the 47-member world body is set to appoint Zeina Jallad as the next Special Rapporteur on “the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures” — an Orwellian position initiated by Iran and Cuba — that is dedicated to condemning Western sanctions against oppressive regimes.
According to her application form, Jallad heads the Palestine Land Studies Center at the American University of Beirut, and has a long history of anti-Israel activism. She defended Hamas after the October 7th massacre.
Although the 5-nation vetting committee had recommended another name as its top choice, in a rare move, the Indonesian President of the Human Rights Council, Amb. Sidharto Suryodipuro, instead went to the second-ranked candidate, and proposed Jallad for the position. To justify his decision, the council president cited her “practice-grounded perspective… as well as her pledge to approach the role with independence, transparency and a commitment to listen.”
Historically, the President’s list of proposed appointees is almost always approved by a consensus of the 47-nation council. Nonetheless, member states do have the ability to raise objections and force a vote on Jallad’s appointment.
Zeina Jallad in Her Own Words
• In March 2025, Jallad defended Hamas: “Hamas is a political party. Hamas and its Charter recognized Israel… They won the elections in 2007, so they were the elected government. What did the world do? The Americans decided to sanction the Palestinian government. The Europeans decided to boycott Hamas. The entire world bashed Hamas. And then Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza. So before talking about October 7th, let’s talk about October 6th.”
• In a May 2024 article about Jordanians supporting Hamas through chants that “They said Hamas were terrorists. All of Jordan is Hamas!”, Jallad said that the chants were about the “resistance movement.” She added, “if you’re under occupation, fighting is resistance.”
• In November 2025, Jallad wrote in reference to Palestinians that “resisting oppression must be recognized not as a crime, but as a fundamental legal right and moral imperative.”
• In April 2025, Jallad stated that “suspending Israel’s involvement in international organizations should be viewed as a means to uphold justice.“
• In March 2025, Jallad stated that “The creation of Israel was the product of the wrongdoings of the West.“ She then added that “Israel is not faced with any existential threat.“
• In 2023, Jallad criticized Israel’s purported “settler-colonial approach to state-building” and accused the Jewish state of being “a proto-apartheid regime.”
Palestinian Picked Over UN’s Own Recommended Expert
Putting aside the Orwellian nature of the UNHRC’s mandate on “unilateral coercive measures,” it’s far from clear that Jallad is the world’s leading expert on sanctions. Indeed, in this same session, Jallad also applied for an entirely different position — as the expert on housing.
The first ranked candidate, Clara Portela, wrote her doctoral thesis on “the imposition of sanctions in response to human rights violations.” She participated in the U.N. High Level Panel on Targeted Sanctions, and served as an advisor on sanctions violations to the European Economic and Social Committee. True, the post is nothing but an anti-Western political cudgel, but clearly the “qualified” expert for it was Portela, who indeed was ranked first by the five-nation Consultative Group.
Yet Jallad seems to have been chosen above the first-ranked candidate for two reasons. First, political reasons: she’s Palestinian, and this is considered a gesture to the Palestinian Lobby at the UN, which includes the PLO, the Arab and Islamic States, and many other stakeholders.
Second, she’s the ultimate insider, and the UN human rights office likes to select people who will be loyal to the system. Jallad currently serves as the legal advisor to Michael Fakhri, the UNHRC’s Special Rapporteur on the right to food, who has repeatedly accused Israel of committing genocide and argued that the U.N.’s institutional legitimacy cannot be restored unless Israel’s statehood is undone. Jallad also served as a legal expert at UN Women, and as a “gender expert” for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Additionally, she worked as a legal expert for the UNHRC’s investigative body for Syria, where she actually specialized in blaming the West for sanctions on the Assad regime.
About the Mandate
The position of Special Rapporteur on Unilateral Coercive Measures (UCMs), the UN’s term for Western sanctions on dictatorships, was established by an Iran-sponsored resolution in 2014, with the support of Russia, China, Venezuela, and Cuba. Its primary objective is to invert reality: claiming that Western sanctions, not repressive governments, are to blame for humanitarian crises in targeted countries.
The outgoing mandate-holder, Alena Douhan, has made official visits to China, Cuba, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe to later issue reports siding with the oppressive regimes of these nations instead of their victims. Douhan’s office has received more earmarked funding by state donors than any other UN rapporteur, with donations totaling over $1 million coming exclusively from China, Russia and Qatar.
