Quarrel between France and the US heats up International Geneva

Dear reader,

For my first contribution to this newsletter, I have chosen to talk to you about a diplomatic quarrel that broke the calm of the summer break here in Geneva. It may seem anecdotal, but it says a lot about the growing divide between the United States and Europe.

It all starts with this message posted on XExternal link by the French mission to the UN: “The US used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore. Today, it stands alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali and Russia, isolated. And the world no longer listens to it.”

A vote at the UN General Assembly is at the origin of this summer diplomatic bombshell. Washington, along with nine other countries, including some of the most repressive, opposed the re-election of Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at the end of July. On the other hand, 144 nations, including France, supported Türk.

The US accuses Türk, who has denounced Israeli abuses in Gaza as well as those of Russia in Ukraine, for having “lectured free and sovereign democracies”, while being “complacent towards the worst oppressors in the world”.

Reposted thousands of times, the French mission’s post, written in an unusually confrontational language for a historical ally of the US, provoked strong reactions across the Atlantic.

Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, repliedExternal link on X that it was “disappointing – though not surprising – that this is how France deflects on its shameful vote to coddle some of the worst human rights abusers”.

The tiff between allies did not end there. A few days later, American diplomats left a meeting of the Security Council just as the French representative was speaking. An extremely rare act. And the American administration is now threatening to block the appointment of the next French ambassador.

The affair spectacularly illustrates the deterioration of relations between Washington and Paris, and more broadly with Europe, since Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Although tensions are not new, they have rarely been voiced so bluntly in multilateral forums.

For Volker Türk, who holds one of the most difficult positions within the UN system, the support of 144 states is certainly a success. But the episode is likely to put even more pressure on his organisation’s already chronically underfunded headquarters in Geneva, which could face an even more massive US withdrawal in the future.

Are there any particular themes that interest you that you would like us to explore? You can write to me at: [e-mail]

Best regards,
Dorian Burkhalter

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