The United Nations General Assembly suspended Russia on Thursday from UN Human Rights Council citing reports of “gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights” in Russian-invaded Ukraine.
A resolution was adopted in the UN General Assembly yesterday, which called for the suspension of Russia from the Human Rights Council.
The resolution came after the discovery of civilian bodies in the town of Bucha near Kyiv.
The US-initiated resolution expressing “grave concern at the ongoing human rights and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine”, received 93 votes in favor and 24 against while 58 member states abstained from the process in the 193-member Assembly.
However, a two-thirds majority of voting members in the General Assembly – excluding abstention – was needed to suspend Russia from the 47-member Geneva-based Human Rights Council.
Russia, China, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Syria, and Vietnam, were among those who voted against it.
Russia quits Human Rights Council
Later, after the voting was done in the UNGA, Russia’s deputy U.N. Ambassador Gennady Kuzmin described the move as an “illegitimate and politically motivated step” and then announced that Russia had decided to quit the Human Rights Council altogether.
“You do not submit your resignation after you are fired,” Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told reporters.
U.S. 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.
Ukraine’s urge to Support the Resolution
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.