Monaco is not a country that typically takes sides. The Principality has long preferred quiet diplomacy over public positions, and so its interventions at international forums tend toward the measured and uncontroversial. However, at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on 23rd February, Isabelle Berro-Amadeï chose to speak bluntly about the state of the world.

Isabelle Berro Amadeï, Monaco’s Minister of External Relations and Cooperation, addressed the High-Level Segment of the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, delivering her message by video.

She raised concern over what she sees as a dangerous drift in international affairs: the sidelining of legal norms, the decline of multilateral cooperation, and an increasing willingness among states to resort to force over dialogue.

Pointing to conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, Syria, Iran and Sudan, she argued that in each case, it’s ordinary people that bear the consequences, when might trumps right.

“Force can conquer, but only law can build,” she stated.

Berro-Amadeï also advocated for a stronger UN human rights architecture, calling for greater institutional capacity within the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and announcing that Monaco would be increasing its voluntary financial contribution to the body.

The Human Right Council is the UN’s principal body for the promotion and protection of human rights. It’s 61st session runs in Geneva until 31st March 2026

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Main photo source: Government Communications Department