First lady Melania Trump is set to lead a session of the United Nations security council on Monday, coinciding with the US assuming the body’s rotating monthly presidency, the White House announced.
According to a statement, first cited by CNN, Melania Trump plans to spotlight education as a tool for fostering tolerance and promoting global peace at the global body, which has its headquarters in New York.
The session, titled Children, Technology, and Education in Conflict, will mark the first time the first lady to a sitting US president has presided over the 15-member council, and kicks off the first session to mark the United States’s latest stint presiding.
The White House said: “Mrs Trump’s leadership will mark the first time a sitting US first lady presides over the security council, as members consider education, technology, peace, and security.”
The 2 March meeting is expected to include the US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, fellow security council representatives, and other international participants.
Waltz said on social media: “We are thrilled to have @Flotus gavel in the US Presidency of the Security Council.”
Melania Trump has also focused on efforts to secure the return of children allegedly taken by Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. She announced in October that some Ukrainian children seized by Russians had been reunited with their families, a cause she has supported during her husband’s second term.
Typically, security council meetings are chaired by a nation’s UN ambassador or a senior cabinet official. While former first ladies such as Eleanor Roosevelt held influential positions within the UN – Roosevelt helped draft the universal declaration of human rights – none have presided over council meetings while serving as first lady.
The move unfolds amid Donald Trump’s hostile approach to the UN. He has often labeled the organization as “ineffective” and called for sweeping changes, while also withdrawing the US from several UN-affiliated agencies, including the World Health Organization and the UN framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC), a foundational international agreement to address the climate crisis.
Additionally, the Trump administration had cut funding for UN entities working with Palestinian refugees, calling it an “irredeemably flawed operation.”
Last week, Trump held the inaugural gathering of his “board of peace”, viewed widely as the president’s attempted alternative to the UN. The initiative, which he says is intended to settle international disputes, has given numerous global leaders pause as they worry the nascent body could serve to supplant the UN.
Reuters contributed reporting
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