The United States withdraws from the Security Council during a French speech

The gesture is extremely rare within the UN. The American representatives left the Security Council chamber as soon as French Ambassador Jérôme Bonnafont began his remarks on Monday, during a session devoted in particular to the conflict in Ukraine. Deputy US Ambassador Dan Negrea immediately explained the reason for their departure.

"A member of this Council is feigning moral outrage and presuming to lecture everyone on every subject, whether it concerns the conflict we are still discussing today, or issues unrelated to peace and security, such as human rights. That is why we withdrew during France's intervention," he said, denouncing a "tiresome hypocritical stance" that Washington had until now "tolerated" out of respect between permanent members.

The crisis had been brewing since Friday. The United States had voted in the General Assembly against renewing the mandate of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, siding with North Korea, Russia, Nicaragua, and Mali. The French mission to the United Nations in Geneva reacted on X: “The United States was once a model for human rights. That is no longer the case. Today, they find themselves alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali, and Russia. Isolated. And the world is no longer listening to them.”

Dan Negrea refuted this interpretation point by point. "We have stood by this member state in every conflict that threatened its freedoms," he stated, adding that the United States would refuse to grant Paris "the privilege of listening to them" until France renounced its "condescending and disrespectful rhetoric."

Jérôme Bonnafont responded with restraint, recalling the 250th anniversary of the United States and France's historic role in its independence. He reaffirmed that Paris was working at the UN "to preserve this institution, its independence, its capacity to act in service of the Charter, in service of human rights, and in service of peace."