Press Conference: Jérôme Bonnafont, Permanent Representative of France to the UN and President of the Security Council for the month of September 2026 on the programme of work of the Security Council

Good morning to you all. I just want to begin by testing the interpretation channels, if I may. Is everything working? The conference will be in French. Is the interpretation working? Is the interpretation working? Does it seem to be working? Yes. Very well. We'll kick things off in that case. Good afternoon to you all. I'm Anne-Claire Jouquema. I am the spokesperson for the permanent mission of France to the United Nations. We are delighted to see you here this morning, this afternoon, for the press conference which is kicking off France's Security Council presidency. It will be a hectic September. We'll be called upon to have regular discussions. I'm sure we're going to kick off this press conference by a statement from Ambassador Jerome Bonafont. He is the permanent representative of France to the United Nations. He will talk about the flagship moments of this presidency that will come in September and he'll outline the priorities of our presidency. We will continue with a Q&A session. I will ask you to give your name when you ask a question as well as the name of the media outlet that you're representing before you deliver your question. Ambassador, over to you.

Thank you very much Anne-Claire. Is that working? Is that working? Can you hear me? Yes, that would seem to be the case. That's not working perhaps, says the ambassador. Are things now improved? Well, great. In the name of multilingualism, which is so dear to France, I will, in adherence to that principle, speak my mother tongue if you will allow me. Ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted, as Anne Claire was saying, to see you here this morning, this afternoon, for this traditional press conference kicking off the monthly presidency of the Security Council. Of course ours will be a presidency open to you, open to your questions throughout the full extent of the month. It is a presidency which is marked by the fact that it is being held during the month in which we will see the opening of a new General Assembly session and it's been held in a month which includes the high level week so tradition dictates that during that month, more specifically during the high level week, we leave we ensure the General Assembly has pride of place and we ensure we leave room for the statements of heads of state, heads of government, heads of delegation present. So ours is a presidency that is being held in a very peculiar, singular context. Some of you that have followed what's been happening today will have noted that our foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, today held his back to school conference if you like. He namely, and I would ask you to look at what he said, he talked about France's commitment to multilateralism and to ensuring that commitment translated into a successful presidency for this month, ensured that value would colour our presidency. He focused specifically on the question of the Middle East, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, terrorism, peacekeeping. He also focused on Security Council reform, and referred particularly to the French-Mexican initiative on the responsible use of the veto. This is not an item on the Council's agenda in the strictest sense of the term, but it is at the heart of France's concerns and will be during our September presidency. The Security Council presidency is responsible for ensuring that the Council's work is smoothly organised during the month of the Presidency itself. The responsibility of the Council as a whole is to propose collective responses to conflicts that are in accordance with the Charter in order to protect civilians and to facilitate the peaceful resolution of armed conflicts and crises. As you are well aware, and the Minister indeed recalled this fact, France is tirelessly committed, unwaveringly committed to the principles of the Charter. Our action at the UN bears witness to that. That principle will be our guiding star during our Presidency. We will for an international order based on law and justice. The Security Council is a place for discussion, of course, but it is, above all, a place for action and decision making. We're all well aware of the difficulties. We know there is polarization. We know there can sometimes be a state of gridlock, impasses, but we believe that there is an overriding imperative to act as a Security Council in view of the conflict playing out. And we are determined to ensure that this presidency is one that allows the council to shoulder the responsibility bequeathed to it by the charter. The council has a duty to react. And here I wish to briefly recall the three major functions that the council has when there is a crisis situation. First of all, it must reaffirm the fundamental principles of the charter and of the international order. It must then support peace processes and it must then encourage action to be taken, particularly in emergency situation. The council has means at its disposal that it must mobilize. These means are dialogue, debate, appeals, mediations and good offices, the deployment of peace operations with blue helmets, namely, support for humanitarian operations, advocacy and support for peace processes launched by regional organizations or specific coalitions. The Council can and must act, and every time it's appropriate, we will propose consultations to ensure that progress can be made with the adoption of operational conclusions. During September, the council's work will be structured in the following manner. There will be three types of discussion. First of all, there'll be a number of meetings that should lead to decisions on the council's part. The council will then therefore be prompted to decide upon the renewal of the sanctions regime coming under 1591 in Sudan. The goal here will be to cut off the flow of weapons and to combat impunity for crimes committed in the country. The Council will take a decision on the renewal of the GSF in Haiti to ultimately allow the force to complete its deployment. and to discharge its mandate. The Council will finally have to vote on renewing the mandate of the 1929 Panel of Experts on Iran. That was a matter reintroduced in September 2025 when we restored sanctions on the country following Iran's non-compliance with its obligation under its nuclear programme. The second set of meetings will be so-called mandated meetings, in other words those that arise from a mandate received by the Security Council. During these meetings the Council must guarantee it's properly monitoring crisis situations. As far as the Middle East is concerned these will include a quarterly meeting on the Syrian chemical file. You're well aware that Syria has taken very significant decisions in terms of dismantling once and for all program inherited from the Assad regime and of course following up on and monitoring that program is an imperative for the council. We'll have a quarterly meeting on the 1737 sanctions committee that is on Iran. Once again this is the Iranian nuclear program and its monitoring that's being discussed here. We'll also have an informal interactive dialogue between the Security Council and the Arab League. the LAS. This is a traditional meeting established by a presidential statement of the Security Council. It allows for discussions to take place between the LAS and the Council on all crises that are playing out in that region of the world. Another informal interactive dialogue has been scheduled on Sudan. What's Our focus here is to bring together the peace initiatives that are all focusing on Sudan so that we can ensure there's proper coordination between them to ultimately benefit and usher in a peace process which is effective for Sudan. We'll have a quarterly meeting on MONUSCO in the DRC and one on UNAMA in Afghanistan. In the first one of these, MONUSCO, we will ensure that MONUSCO is properly discharging its mandate and with the second meeting we'll discuss the situation in Afghanistan and on the future of UNAMA. Thirdly, the French presidency has planned a number of thematic debates. These thematic debates seek to see the Council speak out on issues that are not geographical crises but rather general concerns that the Council has in terms of international peace and security. The first will take place tomorrow. It's an interactive dialogue organised with Latvia. This is an informal interactive dialogue devoted to AI in conflict resolution. Here we could be talking about monitoring ceasefires, peacekeeping operations, or the fight against disinformation. The second thematic meeting is the 11th of September. That will mark 25 years since the New York bombings. For the Security Council, this meeting will provide an opportunity to hold discussions on momentum that needs to be given to the Council's action to counter terrorism. We will particularly emphasise the issue of new technologies' impact on terrorism and the fight against it. Finally, We will most likely on the 25th of September have the annual meeting of the Security Council with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. This will be the first meeting with the new High Commissioner, the Commissioner has announced a number of important reforms to be undertaken within the Commissioner. These are prompted by the increase in number of the number of refugee situations throughout the world and also by the financial constraints facing the Commissioner's organization. That's the general overview of the program and an overview of its structure. The Council is ready to react, we're ready to organize any emergency meetings for which a need may arise, we're also ready to heed the needs of Member States any states that might call for debates to be convened. We have of course in mind the Middle East, Ukraine, that is a priority for France too. We wish ours to be a presidency that serves the transparency, effectiveness and openness of the Council. If the need arises, we will resume reading presidential statements or press statements adopted by the Council. That's something you may wish to know about in terms of organising your work and at the heart of our debates we will always ensure what will always be present is listening to the states concerned by conflicts and civil society. In that connection, if you look at the briefers listing to use Molyneux's French, you will see we've attached particular importance to listening to organisations, associations working on the ground. I think that covers the pith of what I had to say and I'm here ready and willing to respond to your questions if I haven't been entirely comprehensive.

Thank you, Ambassador. As I was saying, I would like you to state your name and media outlet before you ask your question. So the floor is open.

Thank you, Anne-Claire. Thank you, Ambassador, and congratulations on France's presidency. I see a meeting during the TBC meeting during the high level week. You're maybe planning or you're considering a Security Council meeting on Ukraine during that week. And can you tell if so, what would France hopes that meeting will achieve and whether the timing is meant to build the political momentum around ongoing peace efforts? Thank you so much. I'm sorry, it's Valerio from Hansa Newswire. And thank you on behalf of the UN Correspondents Association.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

As our presidency, we, of course, are expecting that the meeting be on Ukraine. In our national capacity, France, we attach importance to making sure that Ukraine is discussed by the Security Council. And now I'm speaking in my national capacity, and I note that every month there is one or two occasions to discuss Ukraine in the Security Council, in particular when it comes to Russian strikes against cities and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. which leads to repeated humanitarian disasters and this situation that we are not resigning ourselves to, we would want to see the ceasefire idea be put forward, which is absolutely necessary, and the Secretary-General has been asking for that for a long time, and the absolute majority of members of the Security Council are asking for it, which is an absolutely necessary thing. And we want a peace process, a peace process which respects the sovereignty, territorial integrity of Ukraine. And nationally speaking, we are committed to stand by with Ukraine within the coalition of the willing bilaterally and as part of the European Union. I thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Ambassador. Edith Lederer from the Associated Press. In your national capacity, can you tell us what issues you think are going to be dominant during the high-level weekend speeches? And what kind of outcome would you like to see in terms of the future of the United Nations trying to solve some of the wars and huge global issues that are confronting the world.

It is always extremely important to observe that participation in the high-level week of the General Assembly is massive and that Tens and tens and tens of heads of state and government come and want to express themselves to reaffirm their attachment to the United Nations and their attachment to multilateralism. And at a time when multilateralism is challenged by polarization, by aggressions, by conflicts, by some countries or movements pretending that it is not relevant anymore. It is for us, France, extremely critical to have this massive show of support to the principle of the United Nations, to the existence of a place where 193 nations gather together. This is not only theoretical or demonstration of principle. It is a demonstration of action. And here you have the three chapters in which we expect the United Nations to deliver. I talked at length about peace and security for the Security Council. The General Assembly is also the occasion of important deliberations on global affairs, whether it be climate change, whether it be development, whether it be the question of artificial intelligence and new technologies. And there is the third pillar of the UN, which is human rights. And on all this, it is critical that we have these actions oriented meetings during the high level week. And finally, we all know that we are in a period of reform. We are in a period of financial challenge for the organization. It is important that heads of state and government and heads of delegations gather here in New York to address those questions and to see how they will deal together with those questions of reform, financial future of the organization and capacity of the organization to answer to the problems of the world as they are asked today, but the central message is this, We believe in multilateralism, and we believe that the high-level week is the occasion for countries in the world to reaffirm that they prefer cooperation and dialogue to confrontation.

Thank you, Anne-Claire. Best of luck during your presidency, Ambassador. It seems that France is also going to ask to make sure that those countries whose situation is on the agenda should be speaking first and not wait for the first 15 to take the floor. Could you explain that? And when was the last time this was done and why is this blocked?

Answer, well, why this was blocked, let's ask the countries who blocked it. But it seems to us indeed that in several situations it would be interesting to listen to those countries which are in crisis before for the council members to speak so that there is more of a dialogue, question and answer. rather than just listening to Council members first. States have objections to that. So we, as presidency, would have to listen to their objections because the Council is a collective body where these kinds of decisions can only be taken by consensus. And we will have to see then to what extent we can move along with this idea. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Mr. Ambassador. My name is Abdul Hamid Sayam from the Arabic Daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi. Mr. Ambassador, a year ago almost, you, your country, and Saudi Arabia organized a meeting about the recognition of the state of Palestine. Since that day until today, things are getting worse and worse by the day, especially with the violence of settlers, as you know. And you speak about frequently, same thing with Gaza, there is no ceasefire. Every single day there is killing of Palestinians, including today three children and one woman was killed. Anyhow, on the other hand, your country still sent some shipment to Israel. I mean, there are 25 shipments had been sent to Israel. I mean, there is an investigative report which put by Al Jazeera that talks about how much France sent weapons to Israel. So how can you explain to us that you give the Palestinians verbal support and you give Israel ammunition and material support? Thank you very much.

Please allow me to concentrate my response on the responsibilities of the United Nations when it comes to Israeli-Palestinian issues, be it the General Assembly or Security Council. You mentioned, and correctly, the fact that exactly a year ago we adopted the New York Declaration, which was voted upon by 142 states, which reaffirmed the two-state solution as a key for peace between Israel and Palestine and in order to stabilize the region. It was immediately after this declaration that President Trump's peace plan was adopted, shared by a group of countries within the G8, and we had resolution 2803 last November. So we do have these two channels of action. On the one hand, we have the General Assembly channel to reaffirm the right of the Palestinians to have a state and the right of Israel to have security, and the conviction that it is through the mutual and collective recognition of the two states within safe and recognized international borders that peace can exist between the Israelis and Palestinians whilst respecting the legitimate rights and interests of each. At the same time, the Security Council is there to voice itself on the armed conflict. And in this regard, you will recall that very regular meetings take place on the implementation of the resolution 2803 on Gaza. And that is an opportunity for France to restate and insist on its conviction on the need to disarm Hamas, to have comprehensive ceasefire and to have full access for humanitarian assistance, the need to implement all of the provisions of 2803 leading to peace, rebuilding and restoring the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, which is an integral part of Palestine. At the same time, there is an issue that you mentioned also. what we in French call the settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem with a number of very worrying Israeli decisions which we condemn be it the extension of the settlement program or the settlers violence which is brutally act and are not being impeded by the Israeli security forces and they take land where they have no right to it. And that will be the subject of the discussion of resolution 2803 at the end of the month, as we regularly have similar discussions within the Council.

Hello, Mr. Ambassador, Adla Massoud with The National.

Today, the EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kaja, said that more than 10 European Union members are willing to contribute resources and people to new military and civilian mission to advise and train Lebanese forces. Now, does that include France? Will France be leading this mission?

As well, I will be answering your question in a more general way within the framework of the Security Council. As you know, the issue in front of the Security Council is the future of the UN presence in Lebanon. UNIFIL mandate is ending under the resolution which we adopted more than a decade ago. For us, the support of Lebanon is a priority thing, and therefore we listen with a great deal of attention to the requests from the Lebanese authorities. And within the Council last week, as I'm sure you know, we had consultations, closed meeting, And we had there the first meeting where Jean Arnaud and Jean-Pierre Lacroix, respectively the head of DPVA and acting coordinator, to present the situation on the ground and the consequences. the conclusions that we need to draw in order to make a decision within the Council. So what we're going to have in the upcoming weeks is a discussion with all of the Security Council members and also troop contributing countries and regional countries to build what is to succeed the current UN presence, UNIFIL or a new force or a combination between a UN presence the coalition that France and Italy are discussing so as to come in support of the Lebanese Armed Forces, a European mission perhaps as you are describing. So it's on these bases that we need to build that with a central idea being what we have in resolution 1701, namely that Lebanon has to be sovereign. The Lebanese state has to be sovereign on their soil vis-a-vis the foreign presence or armed militias such as Hezbollah. So either Israeli presence or Hezbollah presence when they come and contest the monopoly on force by the Lebanese armed forces. So this is at the core of our action to restore the sovereignty of the Lebanese state on their own territory. be it vis-a-vis foreign presence or an armed militia, which needs to be disarmed.

Thank you. Thank you, Ambassador. I have two questions, but I'll do it really quickly. The first one is about Afghanistan. You decided to put it on your agenda. I wonder what you hope to achieve that was not achieved in the last five years regarding Afghanistan, and do you think the United States and the European members are still aligned on the topic, and will it be possible to cooperate on sanctions or anything that has to do with the human rights of women and girls in Afghanistan? And my second question is about Iran. There are still thousands that remain detained following the protests. Is this something that you plan to address during your presidency? All those thousands of people that are being tortured and executed. Thank you.

Thank you very much. On Afghanistan, have two comments. Firstly, the Security Council has a responsibility that falls under the existing international legal order and binds UNAMA too. The first is the reality in Afghanistan. There is a Taliban regime there that did not heed the international community's appeal, particularly when it comes to the situation of women and there the humanitarian situation also remains dire so the discussions that, well the debate that we'll have around the future of the UN presence in Afghanistan aims firstly to recall the fact that Afghanistan is a matter of grave concern for the international community due to the entirely unacceptable regime imposed on women and girls and as a result of the overall situation in the country which in no way contributes to international peace and security or to development. Consequently the Security Council has a responsibility to look at this matter and speak out on, take a decision on the future of the UN's presence in Afghanistan. The debate will provide an opportunity to hear Afghan civil society so that we can really get an idea of what's happening on the ground and be properly apprised of that as the Security Council. As far as Iran goes, the heart of our discussions on Iran this month will be the nuclear issue. we will look at the non-compliance of Iran with its nuclear obligations and the consequences arising therefrom. But it goes without saying that this discussion is not being held in a vacuum. It's being held against the backdrop of a multi-faceted reality. One of those facets is the situation playing out in the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and in particular the freedom of navigation, the full freedom of navigation has not been restored in the Strait of Hormuz and that's having extremely adverse consequences on the international situation, namely the economic situation of developing countries and global food security. And secondly, you referred to this matter that is the situation of the civilian population in Iran. They are the victims of the choices made by the Iranian authorities for years now with these episodes of mass repression to which you referred.

Thank you, Ambassador, for this briefing. Jessica Le Mesurier from France 24. This will be the French President's last General Assembly. I wonder what message Macron will be bringing to the UN and to the world when he comes. What will his priorities be? What meetings is he likely to have? And will, over the course of this month, you be raising the issue of foreign interference in elections? I saw that Foreign Minister Barrot commented on these reports that the United States is funding right-wing media in France ahead of the election there. Will there be any discussion of that in the coming month or will it be mentioned in bilaterals during the General Assembly?

These are questions that you will have to put to the President of the Republic and the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, because it's not… within my remit to preempt decisions that is incumbent upon ministers and the president to take, I can quite simply recall the unstinting commitment of the president of the republic to multilateralism and the UN. He's referred to that several times. I can reaffirm his conviction that the UN must rise to its responsibilities, namely in terms of international peace and security, and I can reaffirm our conviction that upholding that vision involves not only tackling issues but also grappling with new threats to international peace and security that new technologies fuel. So these matters are on our agenda but it's not within my purview this morning, this afternoon to respond specifically to those questions, but I will submit to you the information from our Parisian authorities when we receive it. Thank you.

Much Mr. Masuda. My name is Volodymyr Ichenko, the National News Agency of Ukraine. I've got a follow up question on ceasefire in Ukraine that you've mentioned. Last year, as far as I understand, France was preparing a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Russia's war against Ukraine. Do you intend to continue promoting this idea, the draft resolution?

What we promote certainly is the necessity of a ceasefire. And this is extremely clear in all our statements. Ceasefire is necessary. It is necessary for humanitarian reasons and it is necessary for political reasons in order to allow for the resumption of discussions on the conditions of a just and lasting peace. So we support whatever will allow us to get closer to this goal and to obtain this goal, to reach this goal. You know that there has been recent meetings of the coalition of the willing around Ukraine in the last few days. There was recently a meeting, a virtual meeting between the heads of state and government of this coalition in order to, what is the idea? The idea is to give Ukraine the assurance that its security will be guaranteed when it enters into durable peace negotiations with Russia so that in the future, what has happened in 2014 and 2022 does not happen again. So this is the idea, the general idea that we have, and this is the message that the President and the Minister will carry forward here in New York on Ukraine. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Mr. Ambassador. This is Namo Abdullah with Rudaw Media Network. I have one question on Syria. You chose to brief us in your mother tongue. Syria's Kurds want their children to learn theirs, and they've been protesting over the past two days because Damascus is dismantling the Kurdish language education that's been in place for more than a decade, and Kurdish is being reduced from a language of instruction to a language to be taught like English, like any other foreign language. Is demanding mother tongue education too much to ask for the Kurds? What's France's position on this? Thank you.

When the Security Council holds its monthly meetings on Syria, and there is one this month, we always say a number of things and we closely follow a certain number of issues and this on the basis of reports presented to us by the United Nations. You know that for the UN we currently have the USG UN presence on the ground and the UN is in a position to give us very comprehensive briefings. with that presence. One of the pivotal issues at the heart of our discussions is national reconciliation. Another is building a Syria with a new institutional framework within which the rights of citizens belonging to each and every community are respected. Consequently, for us, What the new Syrian authorities therefore now have to do is through discussion, dialogue, negotiation, through peaceful democratic channels, build this relationship between the Syrian state and Syrian citizens belonging to various groups of Syrian society, the Kurds, Alawites, Christians, Druze, All of these communities must see their citizens rights respected and it's within that context that we will examine the issue of the Kurds integration in Syria as it is being rebuilt. You broached the issue of languages, language, that's one of the crucial components of any community's identity. You could have talked about the integration of the dissolution of the SDF and their reintegration in the Syrian army. We think there is a possibility for a path forward to a place where Syria treats its population radically differently to how it has been doing and whereby that will fuel reconstruction. Last question.

Thank you, Ambassador. As you know, the process of selecting the next Secretary-General has been going on for several months, two rounds of straw polls took place within the Security Council. For France, what are the criteria, necessary prerequisites for a candidate to this post to obtain it? Given also the candidates who are running, which one would you favor most given the geopolitical, the current geopolitical context?

Thank you.

First of all, factually speaking, There are discussions, as you say, within the Security Council so as to arrive at a decision through which the Security Council will present to the General Assembly a proposal for a new Secretary-General to be elected and to do this early enough so that the person who will be elected can prepare him or herself to the functions and responsibilities. The Secretary-General has an immense responsibility and it is in the Charter described rather briefly, but In practice, the activity of the Secretary-General covers three major axes. The first one is the role that the Secretary-General plays directly and through all of these secretariat services, is the role played when it comes to maintaining international peace and security and conflict prevention, et cetera. So there we need someone who can shoulder this kind of responsibility. The second major area of responsibility is everything that covers the responsibilities of the Secretariat, funds and agencies and programs dealing with development, human rights, and what we call global affairs. The Secretary-General should be able to cover all of these areas and provide the necessary impetus to the discussions by the international community on these issues. And the third area is where the Secretary-General needs to be the head of the UN administration, a manager, as we say in French, someone who knows how to guide the organization through the necessary reforms. and dealing with the financial and budgetary issues that the organization is currently facing. And given all of these criteria that France is looking at the various candidates, the French authorities take this into account and we are in dialogue with the candidates and the process continues with yet once again the will on the part of France to arrive at the person of a Secretary-General sufficiently early for the General to give enough time for the General Assembly. Thank you.

Thank you, Ambassador. This will be the end of our conference, and we are available beyond the press conference to answer your questions. Thank you very much. Have a very good day. Thank you.