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United States First Lady Melania Trump presided over a United Nations Security Council meeting on children and education in conflict, in New York on Monday (local time), even as the military action on Iran conducted by the US and Israel continued.
This is the first time that the spouse of any world leader has presided over the meeting of the 15-member UNSC, which Melania did on behalf of the US as it assumed the rotating presidency of the UN council this month. A White House readout of the meeting said that Melania's decisive message to the UNSC members was that "Peace does not need to be fragile." Further, it said that the message of tolerance is rooted in the concept of "democratizing knowledge" for everyone, during the new "age of imagination" when artificial intelligence provides the global community with access to learn about each other's cultural norms, including but not limited to customs, race, and religious beliefs. A report in the NYT said that Melania's chairing the UNSC meeting comes at a time when US President Donald Trump is in the process of dismantling the Department of Education, fulfilling a campaign promise, and has threatened to withhold funding from public schools. His education secretary, Linda McMahon, has said that the changes were an attempt to "refocus education on students, families and schools." The Security Council serves as the UN's principal organ responsible for safeguarding international peace and security. The American First Lady challenged the UN Security Council members to "pledge to safeguard learning ... to build a future generation of leaders who embrace peace through education." Melania stressed the imperative of respecting knowledge to foster durable peace. "Enduring peace will be achieved when knowledge and understanding are fully valued within all societies," Melania said as per the White House readout. "Now is the time for our generation to elevate our children above ideology through access to wisdom," she said. This is the first time that a sitting First Lady presided over the Security Council as its members contemplated technology, education, peace, and security. The US First Lady also offered her condolences to the families of US service members who have been killed. Meanwhile, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Amir-Saeid Iravani, on Monday said Iran doesn't seek escalation but will continue to defend itself. He said that it is "deeply shameful and hypocritical" for the US to host a meeting on protecting children, technology and education in armed conflict while at the same time bombing schools and killing children. "Iran does not seek war. It does not seek escalation, Iran will not surrender its sovereignty," Amir Saeid Iravani told reporters at UN headquarters in New York. The US and Israel are deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, he said. Asked about Iranian strikes around the region since Saturday, he said, "We are not attacking the interests of other neighbouring countries. We are defending ourselves." In Iran, he said, the US and Israel have bombed hospitals, Red Crescent facilities, residential buildings and schools, including one in Minab where 165 girls were killed. Ahead of Monday's meeting, the UNSC said that it builds on Mealania's "Fostering the Future Together" initiative, which she launched in September 2025. The initiative aims to form a global coalition of nations which are "committed to enhancing the well-being of children through the promotion of education, innovation, and technology". Among the initiative's goals is to promote cooperation with the private sector to provide access to innovative education technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and blockchain. Attacks against schools and hospitals are one of the six grave violations included in the UN-led Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM) for violations against children established by resolution 1612 in 2005. Resolution 1998, adopted in 2011, designated these attacks as a grave violation that could trigger the listing of parties in the annexes of the Secretary-General's annual report on children and armed conflict. Resolution 2601 of October 29, 2021, on the protection of education emphasised the need to facilitate the continuation of education in situations of armed conflict. In this regard, it called on member states to "promote the adoption of remote learning solutions, including digital learning, literacy, and skills" as well as to provide assistance for the continuation of education for refugee and displaced children. (ANI)
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