U.S. first lady, Melania Trump chaired a UN Security Council meeting on children and education in conflict on Monday (2 March), a move criticised by Iran as hypocritical following U.S. and Israeli strikes that triggered a UN warning about risks to children.
The session, titled Children, Technology and Education in Conflict, marked the first time the spouse of a serving world leader has presided over the 15-member council, the UN’s most powerful body charged with maintaining international peace and security. The plan for her to chair the meeting was announced last week, before the joint U.S.-Israeli military action began.
According to her office, the U.S. first lady intended to highlight education as a means of promoting tolerance and global peace. Addressing delegates, she said: “The U.S. stands with all of the children throughout the world. I hope soon peace will be yours.”
However, the timing of the meeting drew sharp criticism.
Iran accused the U.S. and Israel of carrying out a strike on a girls’ primary school in the southern town of Minab on Saturday. Iran’s UN envoy, Amir Saeid Iravani, told the council that 165 schoolgirls had been killed in the attack. Reuters was unable to independently verify the claim.
Iravani described it as “deeply shameful and hypocritical” for the U.S. to convene a discussion on protecting children in armed conflict “while at the same time launching missile strikes against Iranian cities and bombing schools and killing children”.
On Saturday, the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, said reports from Iran highlighted how the military escalation in the Middle East “marks a dangerous moment for millions of children in the region”. The agency echoed UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s call for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected the allegation that American forces had targeted a school, telling reporters on Monday that “the United States will not deliberately target a school.”
Israel’s UN ambassador said he had seen differing accounts of the incident, including claims that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps may have been responsible for the strike, but added that Israel regretted any civilian loss of life.
Without directly referring to the allegations surrounding Minab, China’s UN ambassador, Fu Cong, noted that attacks on schools are among the grave violations against children identified by the United Nations. He called on the international community to ensure thorough investigations and accountability.
The meeting also underscored longstanding tensions between the Trump administration and the UN. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticised the 193-member organisation since his first term in office, describing it as ineffective and in need of reform. The U.S. is billions of dollars in arrears on its contributions to the UN budget, with the shortfall having grown substantially during his presidency.
Against that backdrop, critics said the decision for the first lady to chair a high-level session on child protection risked appearing symbolic at best and contradictory at worst, given the unfolding military campaign.
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A Ukrainian strike has damaged a school building in a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, according to local authorities cited by the TASS news agency. No injuries were reported in the incident.
Andy Burnham, the frontrunner to be Britain’s next Prime Minister, was sworn in as a member of Parliament on Monday, just hours after Keir Starmer announced his resignation from the top job.
A United Nations official has warned that efforts to stabilise southern Syria remain stalled nearly a year after deadly sectarian violence in Sweida province, with tensions between Druze factions, Bedouin communities and state authorities still unresolved.
Romania’s prime minister-designate Adrian Vestea failed to secure parliament’s confidence late on Monday after the far-right opposition withheld support, prolonging a political crisis that could affect the country’s access to European Union funds and weigh on its credit standing.
At least thirteen people have died and sixty-six have been injured following an explosion at Qatar's main liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing hub at Ras Laffan, authorities said on Sunday.
Cape Verde’s remarkable FIFA World Cup debut continued on Sunday (21 June) as the tournament newcomers held Uruguay to a 2-2 draw. Goalkeeper Vozinha was once again at the centre of the story, this time with his mother watching from the stands.
Tehran has agreed to let the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recommence inspections of its nuclear programme, U.S. Vice President JD Vance has said. The U.S. and Iran have settled on a 60-day roadmap aimed at reaching a final deal, according to mediators Qatar and Pakistan.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed on a landmark internet deal that will allow traffic to pass through Azerbaijani networks.It's the latest deal to highlight the ongoing peace process between the two countries.
Three students have been killed and at least seven injured after two of their peers opened fire in a high school in the Philippines, police said. A spokesperson for the police said the two suspects, aged 14 and 15, had been arrested and a police pistol confiscated. Bullying is a possible motive.
A Ukrainian strike has damaged a school building in a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, according to local authorities cited by the TASS news agency. No injuries were reported in the incident.
Authorities in France are reporting that about 20 people have died over the weekend while swimming in unsupervised areas of rivers, lakes and coastal waters as they tried to escape the heatwave.
A shooting in Montreal, Canada has left three people dead, including a police officer, a civilian and the suspected attacker, police said.
The European Union is set to host Taliban officials in Brussels for talks on migration, marking the first known visit by the group to an EU meeting since it returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said the country must continue strengthening its nuclear capabilities to deal with what he described as an increasingly unstable global security environment.
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