Melania Trump became the first spouse of a sitting world leader to preside over the UN Security Council on Monday, calling on member states to protect children's access to education. The meeting, titled 'Children, Technology and Education in Conflict,' took place days after Iranian state media reported an airstrike killed at least 165 people at a girls' school in southern Iran.
The first lady took her seat at the council's horseshoe table in New York, greeted by UN Secretary General António Guterres, shook hands with each of the 15 member state representatives, and posed for a group photograph before opening the session. 'The US stands with all of the children throughout the world,' Trump said. 'I hope soon peace will be yours.'
In her speech, Trump argued that education was fundamental to preventing conflict. 'A nation that makes learning sacred protects its books, its language, its science and its mathematics. It protects its future,' she told council members. She also urged the council to use artificial intelligence to 'connect everyone to knowledge through AI, including those in the most remote geographic regions of our world.'
Trump did not address the war or the reported school strike. The Israeli military said it was not aware of strikes in the area, and the US military said it was looking into the reports. Iran's UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, had earlier called it 'deeply shameful and hypocritical' for Washington to convene a meeting on protecting children while launching airstrikes on Iranian cities.
The US holds the council's rotating monthly presidency for March. The White House explained the selection of Melania Trump by saying that child welfare is her top issue. The session was the second in three days; on Saturday, an emergency meeting on the outbreak of war grew contentious after Guterres condemned the US-Israeli strikes and Iran's retaliatory attacks as violations of international law.
Melania Trump's appearance came amid significant strain between Washington and the UN. Donald Trump has withdrawn the US from the World Health Organization, Unesco, and other UN bodies, and has allowed billions in dues to go unpaid. A UN spokesperson said the first lady's presence demonstrated 'the importance that the United States feels towards the Security Council and the subject.'
