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US walks out of UN Security Council meeting during French envoy's speech
๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ธ Serbia /Conflict & Security

US walks out of UN Security Council meeting during French envoy's speech

From N1 Serbia · () Serbian

Translated from Serbian, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • U.S. diplomats walked out of a UN Security Council meeting during the French ambassador's speech, accusing France of "hypocritical posturing."
  • The walkout occurred after the U.S. opposed Volker Turk's bid for another term as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
  • Tensions between the U.S. and France, and more broadly with Europe, are high over various issues including NATO, military presence, and international policy.

U.S. diplomats abruptly left the UN Security Council chamber on Monday as the French ambassador began to speak, leveling accusations of "hypocritical posturing" against their close ally. This unusual move during a Security Council meeting focused on Ukraine highlighted escalating tensions between the United States and France, and more broadly, between the Trump administration and Europe.

The walkout followed the U.S.'s decision to withhold support for Volker Turk's bid for a second four-year term as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Turk had garnered widespread support, including from France, but faced opposition from 10 countries, including the U.S., Russia, and Israel. The U.S. deputy ambassador to the UN, Dan Negrea, accused France of acting "morally outraged" and attempting to lecture the world on human rights.

Negrea asserted that the U.S. had consistently supported France in conflicts threatening its freedom and had tolerated its "posturing out of friendship and mutual respect." However, he declared this tolerance would no longer continue. The immediate trigger for the walkout was a tweet from the French mission to the UN in Geneva, which stated that the U.S. was no longer a beacon of human rights and stood "isolated" with countries like North Korea and Russia.

In response, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Vance accused France on X of protecting "some of the worst human rights violators" and voting for someone who lectures "free, sovereign democracies like the U.S., the UK, and Israel, while currying favor with the world's greatest oppressors." Turk's role inherently involves criticizing UN member states for human rights abuses, a task that has led him to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Israel's war in Gaza, as well as call for U.S. introspection on its immigration policies.

SAD su nekada bile svetionik ljudskih prava. Viลกe nisu. Danas one stoje uz Severnu Koreju, Nikaragvu, Mali i Rusiju - izolovane. I svet ih viลกe ne sluลกa

โ€” French mission to the UN in GenevaTweet regarding the U.S. opposition to Volker Turk's reappointment.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by N1 Serbia in Serbian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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