United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk was re-elected to a second term Friday, though the United States voted against it. The vote ignited a spat between the United States and France, which resulted in the U.S. delegation walking out of a meeting of the U.N. Security Council Monday. File Photo by Salvatore Di Nolfi/EPA
July 28 (UPI) -- U.S. diplomats walked out of a United Nations Security Council meeting Monday over a spat with the French delegation over the United States' human rights record.
In a vote on Friday, the United States voted against extending the term of Austrian Volker Türk as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
On Saturday, the French delegation to Geneva posted on X: "The U.S. used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore. Today, it stands alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali & Russia, isolated. And the world no longer listens to it."
The U.S. Mission to the U.N. responded: "The U.N. human rights system has been losing credibility for decades. Volker Türk led it to its deathbed. Today's vote kicked the bucket."
