US diplomats walk out of UN meeting after France attacks Trump rights record

The walkout at UNSC came two days after an online exchange between US and French officials over Washington voting against renewing the four-year term of UN human rights chief Volker Turk. France likened the Trump administration to Russia and North Korea, earning the Americans' ire.

In Short

• France criticised Washington after Volker Türk won overwhelming backing for reappointment
• The US had opposed Türk, citing his criticism of democracies
• Broader disputes include NATO doubts, troop plans, Greenland and Iran

US diplomats walked out of a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine on Monday over France's critical remarks about Washington's human rights record, in a startling public sign of tensions between the two allies. The US accused France of "disingenuous grandstanding" for comparing the Trump administration to Russia and North Korea.

The episode came days after the United States opposed a second four-year term for UN human rights chief Volker Turk, whose reappointment won overwhelming support, including from France. The US was among the countries that voted against him.

This sparked a terse online exchange. After the General Assembly backed Turk's reappointment by 144 votes to 10, with 13 abstentions, France's UN Mission in Geneva posted, "The US used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore. Today, it stands alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali & Russia, isolated. And the world no longer listens to it."

Responding on X, US ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz accused France of coddling "some of the worst human rights abusers" and voting "for someone who has been lecturing, free, sovereign democracies like the United States, the UK, and Israel, while cozying up to the world's worst oppressors."

At Monday's UNSC meeting, the two longtime allies traded barbs face-to-face. Deputy US ambassador Dan Negrea said France was showing "moral outrage" and trying to lecture the world on every issue, including human rights. He added that the US had stood by France in every conflict where its "freedom has been imperiled" and had tolerated its grandstanding "out of a sense of camaraderie and mutual respect", but that this would not continue.

"Today, I remind them that it is the United States that remains the beacon of liberty for the world. As such, we will not be affording them the benefit of listening to their politicised drivel until they renounce their condescending and disrespectful rhetoric and behave in a manner commensurate with their seat on this council," Negrea said.

The US diplomats walked out as France’s delegation took the floor. French UN Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont did not refer to the walkout when he addressed the meeting later. Instead, he said France, which helped the US gain its independence, had taken part in the July 4 celebration of America's 250th anniversary.

The episode reflected wider strain between the US and Europe over issues including President Donald Trump's commitment to Nato, possible changes to US troop deployments in Europe, his desire to control Greenland, and his complaint that Europeans were not consulted and did not help the US during the Iran war. Amid these tensions, French President Emmanuel Macron has been pushing efforts to strengthen Europe's military and ensure a nuclear umbrella, alongside Britain.

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