The United Nations General Assembly suspended Russia from the United Nations Human Rights Council on Thursday in response to accusations of “gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights” in Ukraine, prompting Moscow to announce its withdrawal from the council.
The US-led initiative received 93 votes in favor, 24 votes against, and 58 abstentions. Suspending Russia from the Geneva-based Human Rights Council required a two-thirds majority of voting members in the 193-member General Assembly in New York – abstentions do not count.
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Following the decision, Gennady Kuzmin, Russia’s Deputy United Nations Ambassador, condemned the move as an “illegitimate and politically motivated step” and then stated that Russia had decided to withdraw from the Human Rights Council entirely.
“You do not submit your resignation after you are fired,” Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya informed reporters.
The Russian government was halfway through a three-year term. According to Thursday’s resolution, the General Assembly may have later agreed to lift the suspension. Regardless, such an outcome is unlikely now that Russia has resigned from the council, as the United States did in 2018 over what it described as persistent anti-Israel bias.
Last year, the United States was re-elected to the council. Suspensions are rare. As a result of violence against protesters by Muammar Gaddafi’s forces, Libya was suspended in 2011.
In remarks to be delivered later this afternoon at the UN General Assembly, she stated, “US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the United Nations “sent a clear message that the suffering of victims and survivors will not be ignored.”
“We ensured a persistent and egregious human rights violator will not be allowed to occupy a position of leadership on human rights at the UN.”
The Human Rights Council does not have the authority to make legally enforceable judgements. However, its rulings transmit significant political statements and it has the authority to order probes. The council launched an investigation last month into allegations of human rights breaches in Ukraine, including possibly war crimes.
Thursday’s resolution was the 193-member General Assembly’s third since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine on the previous two General Assembly resolutions condemning Russia received 141 and 140 votes in favor, respectively.
China, which had abstained from the previous two General Assembly votes, voted against the resolution on Thursday.
“Such a hasty move at the General Assembly, which forces countries to choose sides, will aggravate the division among member states and intensify the confrontation between the parties concerned – it is like adding fuel to the fire,” China’s UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said prior to the vote.
According to the General Assembly text on Thursday, “grave concerns” are expressed about the continuing human rights and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, particularly regarding reports of rights abuses by Russia.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
