United Nations: The UN General Assembly voted on Thursday to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council, following accusations against the Russian military of killing civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, which were repeatedly rejected by Moscow.
The resolution was approved with the votes in favor of 93 countries, 24 against and 58 abstentions.
Among Latin American countries, Bolivia, Cuba and Nicaragua voted against the decision, while Brazil, El Salvador and Mexico abstained. Venezuela did not vote. The rest of the countries in the region supported the decision.
China, as well as Iran, Algeria, Ethiopia and Kazakhstan, are also among the countries that did not support the suspension.
In a stance similar to that of other countries that voted against or abstained, the Chinese ambassador to the UN, Zhang Jun, called for an investigation into the massacre of civilians in Bucha before making the decision.
“Any accusation must be based on facts. Before a complete picture is clarified, all parties must exercise restraint and avoid baseless accusations,” the diplomat urged.
Days earlier, the White House spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, and the US permanent representative to the international organization, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, reported that Washington was seeking to suspend Moscow from the Council in relation to its military operation in Ukraine.
“Russia should not have a position of authority in that body, nor should we allow Russia to use her seat on the Council as a propaganda tool to suggest that it has legitimate human rights concerns,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
In return, Russia’s representative to the UN, Vasili Nebenzia, called a press conference to present Moscow’s position on the Bucha assassinations, calling it “unimaginable” that Washington is trying to persuade others to suspend the Eurasian country from the UN Human Rights Council and also exclude it from various multilateral forums.
“We cannot believe what the West and its allies are currently trying to do,” the diplomat said. “This fact is unprecedented, it will not facilitate or help what is happening between Russia and Ukraine,” the diplomat reiterated.
For his part, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for United Nations Director-General António Guterres, stated earlier that Moscow’s expulsion from the forum would create “a dangerous precedent.”
The Human Rights Council is an intergovernmental body within the United Nations system, made up of 47 States and responsible for their promotion and protection throughout the world.
The resolution, which was adopted in March 2006 and established the Human Rights Council, says that the General Assembly has the right to suspend a country’s membership if it “commits serious and systematic violations of human rights.”
In 2018, the then US ambassador to the UN, Nikky Haley, branded the body, which has been the subject of various criticisms, “hypocritical” for its “unfair criticism” of Israel and announced that Washington would end its membership, although later he changed his decision.
Between 2017 and 2019, Russia was not part of the Council. This was due to the fact that it lost the elections, which took place in October 2016. At that time, it obtained 112 votes and was surpassed by Hungary and Croatia, with 144 and 114 votes, respectively.
Tags: Human Rights, UN