UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesman has criticised the US decision to impose sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur in the occupied Palestinian territory, Al Jazeera reports.

“The imposition of sanctions on special rapporteurs is a dangerous precedent,” Stephane Dujarric told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.

Noting that Albanese reports to the UN Human Rights Council and not to the secretary-general, Dujarric said UN member states may disagree with reports by special rapporteurs.

“But we encourage them to engage with the UN’s human rights architecture. The use of unilateral sanctions against special rapporteurs or any other UN expert or official is unacceptable,” he said.