The United Nations General Assembly suspended on Thursday Russia from its Human Rights Council over gross and systematic violations and human rights abuses committed in Ukraine.
The United States-initiated move got the support of 92 countries, 24 countries have voted against the resolution, whereas, 53 nations, including India, have abstained from voting that took place after the US envoy to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield made the case for seeking Russia’s suspension.
Washington’s stand was that Moscow’s participation in the top human rights body is a farce.
Ukraine’s representative to UN Sergiy Kyslytsya said during the UNGA’s emergency session prior to the vote that the suspension of rights of membership of Russia in UNHRC is not an option, but a duty since a unique situation was created in which a member of the UNHRC commits horrific abuses and human rights violations that would be equated to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Hailing Moscow’s expulsion from the rights council, US President Joe Biden stressed that the undeniable evidence of what is happening in Ukraine has no match in Russia’s lies and has called the atrocities continuing to emerge in the country an outrage to the common humanity.
Responding to the vote, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that Russia considers the suspension of its membership in the UNHCR to be illegal and politically motivated and aimed at punishing a sovereign UN member state that pursues an independent domestic and foreign policy.
The statement of the ministry also added that Russia has decided to give up its membership immediately, stressing that its sincere commitment to protecting and promoting human rights does not allow it to remain part of UNHCR.
The ministry described the UN body as an international mechanism that has turned into an executor of the will of a group of countries that do not shy away from the open blackmail of sovereign states in order to push through their goals.
Spurred by the horrific images emerging from now-infamous towns like Bucha and Mariupol in recent days, the G7, the EU, and Washington further tightened the economic screws on Moscow.
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