US diplomats walk out as France addresses UN Security Council

What the report says

Al Jazeera, citing AP and Reuters, reported that United States diplomats left a United Nations Security Council session on Monday when France began speaking during a meeting on Russia’s war in Ukraine. The incident followed a public dispute between US and French officials over the reappointment of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.

According to the report, tensions escalated after France’s UN Mission in Geneva criticized Washington’s vote against extending Turk’s four-year mandate, saying the US had lost standing as a human rights leader and was aligned with a small group of opposing states including Russia and North Korea. US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz responded on X by accusing France of supporting a human rights chief he said had targeted democracies such as the US, the United Kingdom and Israel while being too close to oppressive governments.

After the walkout, alternate US representative Dan Negrea told the council that US diplomats would continue the tactic unless France withdrew what he called disrespectful language. France’s ambassador, Jerome Bonnafont, did not address the departure in his remarks and instead said France was focused on defending the UN’s independence and ability to act.

Al Jazeera reported that Turk was renewed by the UN General Assembly with 144 votes in favor, 10 opposed and 13 abstentions. The episode comes amid broader strains between Washington and Paris over UN policy, NATO spending, trade, Greenland-related remarks by President Donald Trump, and European responses to the US-Israel war on Iran.