US accused France of “condescending” rhetoric over its human rights stances
Revealed On 27 Jul 2026
United States diplomats walked out of a United Nations Safety Council assembly on Russia’s conflict in opposition to Ukraine as France’s delegation took the ground.
The walkout on Monday got here two days after a web-based trade between US and French officers over Washington voting in opposition to renewing the four-year time period of UN human rights chief Volker Turk.
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France’s UN Mission in Geneva wrote on Saturday that the US was now not a “beacon of human rights” and stood remoted alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali and Russia.
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz replied on X that France had voted for a rights chief who “has been lecturing free, sovereign democracies like america, the UK, and Israel, whereas cozying as much as the world’s worst oppressors”.
After the walkout, Dan Negrea, an alternate US consultant, informed the council that his delegation would preserve strolling out till France renounced its “condescending and disrespectful rhetoric”.
France’s ambassador, Jerome Bonnafont, didn’t point out the walkout when he spoke, saying France was working to protect the UN’s independence and its capability to behave.
Turk, who has criticised violations of worldwide regulation by Israel and the US in Palestine and Iran, was reappointed by a UN Normal Meeting vote of 144 in favour, 10 in opposition to and 13 abstentions.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has minimize funding to UN businesses and withdrawn from dozens of UN entities since 2025. It had additionally threatened to reassess its engagement over Turk’s mandate.
Washington and Paris have additionally clashed over NATO spending, trade policy and Trump’s threats to occupy Greenland, a territory of NATO member Denmark.
France, together with different European states, has additionally drawn Trump’s ire for refusing direct participation within the US-Israel conflict on Iran.
