FRANCESCA ALBANESE has been awarded Spain’s highest civilian honour for her work “documenting and denouncing violations of international law in Gaza.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez presented the Order of Civil Merit to the UN’s special rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territory at a ceremony in Madrid on Thursday.

In a post on social media Mr Sanchez said: “Public responsibility also entails the moral obligation not to look the other way.

“It is an honour to award the Order of Civil Merit to a voice that upholds the conscience of the world.”

Ms Albanese said: “Thank you, Mr President, for this recognition, for championing a Europe that belongs to its peoples, in accordance with international law — not above it or in defiance of it — and for solidarity, the lifeblood of the human family.

“Free Palestine.”

On Wednesday, Mr Sanchez formally asked the European Commission to shield the International Criminal Court and the United Nations from United States government sanctions.

“The EU cannot stand idly by in the face of this persecution,” he said. “Sanctioning those who defend international justice puts the entire human rights system at risk.”

A tireless critic of Western states’ arming and tacit support of the Israeli government’s Gaza genocide, Ms Albanese has also been sanctioned by the US, had her access to banking stripped and faced the prospect of arrest in Germany.

She is the first UN special rapporteur to be the target of US sanctions for her work.