(CNN) The United Nations General Assembly voted Thursday to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council after high-profile allegations of atrocities committed by Russian soldiers during the war in Ukraine.
The voting result was 93 in favor, 24 against and 58 abstentions.
The draft resolution adds that the council has "grave concern" regarding reports of "gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights" and "violations of international humanitarian law" committed by the Russian Federation during its invasion of Ukraine.
The General Assembly needed to vote in favor by two-thirds of the countries present and voting to remove Russia from the UN Human Rights Council. The measure suspends Russia's membership in the Council and would launch a review of the matter if the UN deems it appropriate.
The United States ambassador to the United Nations made a case for seeking the suspension of Russia from the Human Rights Council in front of the UN Security Council on Tuesday, something she and other UN member states have been pushing.
"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," Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.
"Every day, we see more and more how little Russia respects human rights," she said.
Ultimately she argued, "Russia's participation on the Human Rights Council hurts the Council's credibility. It undermines the entire UN. And it is just plain wrong."
The Ukrainian ambassador to the United Nations, Sergiy Kyslytsya, ahead of the vote on Thursday called on all United Nations member states to support the resolution suspending Russia from the council.
"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. ... We need to take an action today to save the council from sinking," Kyslytsya said.
The Ukrainian ambassador said Russia's actions in Ukraine "would be equated to war crimes and crimes against humanity." While he noted that a vote to suspend a country from the Human Rights Council is "a rare and extraordinary action," he said "Russia's actions are beyond the pale."
In response, the deputy Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Gennady Kuzmin, called on member states to reject the resolution, saying it would set a "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. In fact the draft resolution we are considering today has no relationship to the actual human rights situation on the ground," Kuzmin said.
The Russian representative said the vote on suspending Russia from the Human Rights Council "is an attempt by the United States to maintain its dominant position and total control to continue its attempt at human rights colonialism in international relations."
Louis Charbonneau, the UN director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement that Russia's suspension sends "a crystal-clear message" that they have "no business" on the council.
"The General Assembly has sent a crystal-clear message to Russia's leadership that a government whose military is routinely committing horrific rights violations has no business on the UN Human Rights Council," Charbonneau said. "Gruesome images from Bucha have shocked people around the world. Victims and their families deserve to see those responsible held to account. Investigators from the UN and International Criminal Court should set the wheels of justice in motion by moving swiftly to gather and preserve evidence of war crimes."
This story has been updated with additional developments on Thursday.
NeutralZero1 on April 7th, 2022 at 16:45 UTC »
Full list of votes and the World map of votes
The_Novelty-Account on April 7th, 2022 at 16:22 UTC »
For individuals who want to know what this means, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a sub-body (i.e. not one of the big six bodies) within the UN that does not provide legally binding resolutions. What it can do, however, is authorize the secretariat of the UN to commence a public investigation into particular situations. It is also a useful tool for outlining international consensus on issues of human rights. Unlike what most people think, the UNHRC does not legally outline human rights. That is the purpose of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (it is also not the purpose of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, that is a non-binding policy document). The UNHRC has 47 members.
Terms on the UNHRC are three years but may be non-consecutively renewed. Its oversight big six body is interestingly the UN General Assembly and not ECOSOC (which was its predecessor's oversight committee). In this case, Russia has been removed from the UNHRC through a two-thirds majority vote at the UNGA which is a mechanism inherent to the UNHRC.
What does this mean practically? Well generally it means that Russia can no longer participate at the council, meaning it can no longer speak (subject to being granted permission to do so as an observer) it can no longer vote, and it can no longer provide draft resolutions. Though it can run for re-election. In honesty, this is more of a politically symbolic gesture than anything, and this is coming from someone who strongly supports the power of diplomatic and international legal action. That said, it certainly doesn't mean its useless nor does it mean it isn't significant. It sets precedent for states that if they want to be on the HRC, they cannot use the body to peddle falsehoods or propaganda and remain a member to it and again, has removed a legitimate media outlet from Russia's repertoire. In fact to my knowledge, this is the first second (I forgot about Libya in 2011, thank you for the correction) ever time that a party has been forcibly removed from the UNHRC.
Edit: I have checked the UNGA vote record database and an official vote record has not been published yet, however another commenter has provided a picture of the actual vote here
JustAnotherGuy180 on April 7th, 2022 at 16:02 UTC »
Does anyone know how to find out which countries voted which way or abstained?