UN General Assembly Suspends Russia From Human Rights Council Over Ukraine Abuses

The United Nations General Assembly voted Thursday to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council after high-profile allegations of atrocities committed by Russian soldiers during the war in Ukraine.

The resolution received a two-thirds majority of those voting, minus abstentions, in the 193-member Assembly, with 93 nations voting in favor, 24 voting against and 58 abstaining from voting.

Russia, Belarus, China, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, and Syria were among the countries who voted against the resolution.

Those abstaining, included India, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia.

The meeting marked the resumption of a special emergency session on the war in Ukraine and followed reports of violations committed by Russian forces.

This past weekend, disturbing photos emerged from the city of Bucha, a suburb of the capital, Kyiv, where hundreds of civilian bodies were found in the streets and in mass graves following Russia’s withdrawal from the area.

Prior to the vote, Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya urged countries to support the resolution.

“Bucha and dozens of other Ukrainian cities and villages, where thousands of peaceful residents have been killed, tortured, raped, abducted and robbed by the Russian Army, serve as an example of how dramatically far the Russian Federation has gone from its initial declarations in the human rights domain. That is why this case is unique and today’s response is obvious and self-explanatory,” he said.

This is not the first time that a Member State has had its membership of the Human Rights Council suspended. Libya lost its seat in 2011, following repression of protests by ruler Muammar Gaddafi, who was later overthrown.

Speaking after the vote, Russia’s deputy permanent member Gennady Kuzmin called the UNGA’s decision “an illegitimate and politically motivated step with the aim of demonstratively punishing a sovereign member state of the U.N.,” even going as far as calling it “open blackmail of sovereign states.”

He also claimed the council is “monopolized by one group of states who use it for their short-term aims,” and that “such actions violate the mandate entrusted by the international community on the Human Rights Council and overall undermine trust in this body.”

Kuzmin said Russia made the decision to end its membership with the Human Rights Council on Thursday.

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