The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday voted to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council amid the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The final vote was 93 in favor, 24 against and 58 abstentions, Just the News reports.
The resolution said the body may “suspend the rights of membership in the Human Rights Council of a member of the Council that commits gross and systematic violations of human rights.”
The resolution added that the council is concerned about the “gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights” and “violations of international humanitarian law” Russia has committed during its invasion of Ukraine.
"Russia should not have a position of authority in a body whose purpose – whose very purpose – is to promote respect for human rights. Not only is it the height of hypocrisy -– it is dangerous," U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said. "Every day, we see more and more how little Russia respects human rights."
Prior to the vote, Ukrainian ambassador to the U.N. Sergiy Kyslytsya asked member states to support the resolution.
"Now the world has come to a crucial juncture. We witness that our liner is going through treacherous fog towards deadly icebergs. It might seem that we should have named it the Titanic instead of the Human Rights Council,” he said. “We need to take an action today to save the council from sinking.”
On the other hand, the deputy Russian ambassador blasted the resolution, calling it a “dangerous precedent.”
“Today is not the time nor the place for theatrics, or these kinds of extremely theatrical performances like the one presented by Ukraine,” he said. “In fact the draft resolution we are considering today has no relationship to the actual human rights situation on the ground.”
