U.S. diplomats staged a demonstrative walkout during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the war in Ukraine, leaving the chamber just as the French delegation was preparing to address the Council.
The move came two days after a heated online exchange between officials from the two countries, triggered by the United States’ vote against renewing the four-year mandate of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.
Tensions escalated after France’s mission to the United Nations declared that the United States was no longer a “beacon of human rights” and had become internationally isolated, placing it in the same category as North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali, and Russia.
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz responded swiftly in a post on X, accusing France of backing a High Commissioner who “lectures free and sovereign democracies such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Israel, while appeasing some of the world’s worst oppressors.”
Explaining the walkout, Acting U.S. Representative Dan Negrea told the Security Council that the American delegation would continue leaving the chamber whenever France spoke until it ended what he described as “demeaning and disrespectful rhetoric.”
French Ambassador Jérôme Bonnafont made no reference to the U.S. walkout in his remarks, instead emphasizing that France remains committed to preserving the independence of the United Nations and its ability to act effectively.
Despite Washington’s opposition, Volker Türk—who has previously been sharply critical of alleged violations of international law by the United States and Israel in Palestine and Iran—secured a new mandate. The UN General Assembly approved his reappointment with 144 votes in favor, 10 against, and 13 abstentions.
Relations between Washington and Paris have also been strained by several other unresolved issues, including disagreements over NATO defense spending, trade policy disputes, and President Donald Trump’s remarks about taking control of Greenland, an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
In addition, France, alongside several other European countries, has drawn Washington’s criticism after refusing to participate directly in the U.S.-Israel military campaign against Iran.
