US Wants Russia Suspended from UN Human Rights Council

April 4, 2022 Elizabeta Bozinovska Foreign Policy

In light of the allegations that Russian forces committed war crimes in Ukraine, most recently in Bucha over the weekend, the US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced on Monday that the United States will seek Russia’s suspension from the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Thomas-Greenfield, which is currently Romania observing efforts to help refugees arriving from Ukraine, stressed that they’re going to seek Russia’s suspension from the UNHCR in close coordination with Ukraine, European countries and other 140 partners at the UN that voted in early March to condemn Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

She underscored that the images of devastation across Ukraine, especially from Bucha, require that they now match its words with action, demanding accountability, and justice for this brutality.

Earlier on Sunday, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Bucha incident a punch in the gut, noting that the US is among the countries collecting evidence of Russian atrocities for future prosecution in international courts.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also called for an independent investigation that will lead to effective accountability over civilian deaths in Ukraine.

The prosecutor of the International criminal court (ICC) launched in March an investigation into allegations of possible war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide being committed in Ukraine.

Ukraine had awarded jurisdiction to the court although it is not a part of The Hague’s ICC, stressing that there are grounds to open an investigation since there’s a previous preliminary investigation – which was published in 2021- on Crimea and the Donbas.

Russian forces are accused by Ukraine of indiscriminately shelling civilian areas and exploiting the definition of genocide as a pretense to invade its territories.

Following referrals from 39 countries, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan was able to expedite the launch of the inquiry that could potentially pave the way for participants in the conflict to be tried at The Hague.