UN General Assembly suspends Russia from Human Rights Council
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The United Nations General Assembly voted on Thursday to approve a U.S.-led campaign to suspend Russia from the world organization’s leading human rights body over its unprovoked attack on Ukraine.
Suspension from the 47-member Human Rights Council needed a two-thirds majority and was seen as a strong diplomatic rebuke of Russia and its alleged atrocities in Ukraine, specifically in Bucha, where hundreds of civilians were butchered, burned, and killed over the weekend.
It is the first time one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council has lost its membership rights in any U.N. organization and the second time a country has been blocked from the Human Rights Council, which was established in 2006.
Thursday’s historic vote was 93-24, with 58 abstentions.
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China, Mexico, Brazil, Egypt, Iran, and South Africa were among the nations that voted against stripping Moscow of its membership, with China calling the resolution too “politicized” and “hasty.”
“We oppose double standards and oppose exerting pressure on other countries in the name of human rights,” Zhang Jun, China’s ambassador to the U.N., said.
Ahead of the vote, Ukraine’s U.N. ambassador called Russia’s actions “beyond the pale.”
“Russia is not only committing human rights violations, it is shaking the underpinnings of international peace and security,” Sergiy Kyslytsya said.
Russian Deputy Ambassador Gennady Kuzmin urged nations to vote “no” and called the effort to remove his country “an attempt by the United States to maintain its dominant position and total control.”
“We reject the untruthful allegations against us, based on staged events and widely circulated fakes,” he added.
The Kremlin warned earlier this week that it would consider votes in support of the resolution or even abstentions as “unfriendly” acts and threatened consequences.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine on Feb. 24. Since then, thousands of people have been killed, cities have been burned, and residents have fled en masse.
Western leaders have imposed punishing sanctions on the Russian leader, his family, friends, state-run banks, and businesses tied to him.
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