Frances mission to the United Nations in Geneva launched a verbal attack against the U.S. following a contentious vote to give U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk another four-year term, accusing Washington of abandoning its role as a global human rights leader.
“The US used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore,” the official French mission account posted on X Saturday. “Today, it stands alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali & Russia, isolated. And the world no longer listens to it.”
The mission added the hashtag “#AmericaAlone.”
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U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz fired back, accusing France of using the attack to distract from its support for Türk.
“It is disappointing â though not surprising â that this is how France deflects on its shameful vote to coddle some of the worst human rights abusers,” Waltz wrote on X. “France voted for someone who has been lecturing free, sovereign democracies like the United States, the UK, and Israel, while cozying up to the worlds worst oppressors.”
During the vote by Ambassador Jeff Bartos, the U.S. representative for U.N. management and reform, declared that the U.N. human rights system “has been losing credibility for decades.”
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“Mr. Türk has guided it to its deathbed,” Bartos said. “And if you vote to reappoint Volker Türk for a four-year term, it will kick the bucket.”
Bartos accused Türk of disproportionately condemning democracies while failing to respond adequately to abuses committed by authoritarian governments.
He said Türk had criticized the United States, Britain, France, Australia, Italy and, more than any other country, Israel. Bartos also accused Türk of remaining silent for 12 days after the Iranian government allegedly began a new wave of violence against its citizens, while quickly condemning U.S. military action against Iran.
Bartos further criticized Türks office for calling on Washington to lift sanctions on Cuba, maintaining what he called a discriminatory database targeting American companies and enabling the U.N.s “anti-Israel machinery.”
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Frances U.N. Ambassador Jérôme Bonnafont offered a sharply different assessment during the General Assembly debate, saying Türk had demonstrated “rigor and impartiality” during a first term marked by growing attacks on multilateral institutions and the universality of human rights.
“He has been a voice of conscience, confronting states with reality and their responsibilities,” Bonnafont said.
An official familiar with the U.S. position told Fox News
