Melania Trump will make history on Monday by chairing a meeting of the UN Security Council, as the United States holds the presidency of the Council and focuses on education, technology, and peace worldwide.
Melania Trump will preside over a meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday, marking the first time a first lady has done so, her office announced. “First Lady Melania Trump will make history at the UN by wielding the gavel as the United States holds the presidency of the Security Council to underscore the importance of education for advancing tolerance and peace in the world,” the statement specified.
This meeting on education, technology, and peace on Monday at 3 pm (9 pm French time) will be “the first time a sitting first lady chairs a Security Council,” it adds. “No one cares as much about protecting American youth as our fantastic first lady, who is now a movie star,” President Donald Trump commented during the State of the Union address on Tuesday.
UN Secretary-General spokesman Stéphane Dujarric stated on Thursday that Melania Trump’s visit “is a sign of the importance the United States attaches to the Security Council and the topic of education,” adding that, according to UN records, this will be the first time a sitting president or first lady in the world will chair such a meeting.
These comments come as some believe that the “Peace Council” established by Donald Trump seeks to bypass the UN Security Council and that the Trump administration is often critical of the United Nations in general. During the first meeting of the “Peace Council” last week, the American president stated that the UN “has great potential” but has “never achieved it.”
Since returning to the White House, the United States has withdrawn from several major UN agencies, such as the World Health Organization, and had not contributed anything to the UN’s general budget in 2025, despite being its top contributors in principle. However, amid a reform project of the institution on the brink of paralysis, the Americans paid 160 million dollars a few days ago out of their more than 2 billion arrears in the general budget, in addition to approximately 2 billion in arrears in the peacekeeping budget.
