The United Nations General Assembly has voted to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council with Nigeria and a few other countries absent in the exercise aimed at forcing Russia to stop its onslaught against Ukraine.
A United States-initiated resolution that expressed “grave concern at the ongoing human rights and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine” on Thursday received 93 votes in favor and 24 against, with 58 member states abstaining from the process.
After the vote, Russia announced it was quitting the council.
The resolution came after the discovery of civilian bodies in the town of Bucha near Kyiv.
Before 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.
Here is a list of the General Assembly votes:
- Albania
- Andorra
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Bahamas
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- Chad
- Chile
- Colombia
- Comoros
- Costa Rica
- Côte d’Ivoire
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Denmark
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Estonia
- Fiji
- Finland
- France
- Georgia
- Germany
- Greece
- Granada
- Guatemala
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Jamaica
- Japan
- Kiribati
- Latvia
- Liberia
- Libya
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malawi
- Malta
- Marshall Islands
- Mauritius
- Micronesia
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Myanmar
- Nauru
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- North Macedonia
- Norway
- Palau
- Panama
- Papua New Guinea
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Republic of Korea
- Republic of Moldova
- Romania
- St Lucia
- Samoa
- San Marino
- Serbia
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Timor-Leste
- Tonga
- Turkey
- Tuvalu
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uruguay
The following 24 countries voted against suspending Russia:
Algeria
- Belarus
- Bolivia
- Burundi
- Central African Republic
- China
- Congo
- Cuba
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Gabon
- Iran
- Kazakhstan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Lao
- Mali
- Nicaragua
- North Korea
- Russia
- Syria
- Tajikistan
- Uzbekistan
- Vietnam
- Zimbabwe
The following 58 countries abstained:
- Angola
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Barbados
- Belize
- Bhutan
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Brunei
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- Cape Verde
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- Eswatini
- Gambia
- Ghana
- Guinea-Bissau
- Guyana
- India
- Indonesia
- Iraq
- Jordan
- Kenya
- Kuwait
- Lesotho
- Madagascar
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Mexico
- Mongolia
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Nepal
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Qatar
- St Kitts and Nevis
- St Vincent and the Grenadines
- Saudi Arabia
- Senegal
- Singapore
- South Africa
- South Sudan
- Sri Lanka
- Sudan
- Suriname
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Togo
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tunisia
- Uganda
- United Arab Emirates
- Vanuatu
- Yemen
Russia’s deputy ambassador, Gennady Kuzmin, urged members to vote against the resolution, saying: “What we’re seeing today is an attempt by the United States to maintain its dominant position and total control.
“We reject the untruthful allegations against us, based on staged events and widely circulated fakes.”
However, after the vote he claimed Russia already planned to leave the council.
“These states for many years have directly been involved in blatant and massive violations of human rights, or abetted those violations,” he said.
“In spite of their membership as members of the council, they are not ready to sacrifice their short-term political and economic interests in favour of true cooperation and stabilizing the human rights situation in certain countries.”
China, which voted against the resolution, called Russia’s suspension a “dangerous precedent”.
Olaf Skoog, head of the EU delegation, commended the result of the vote.
“The rare decision this Assembly has taken today sends a strong signal of accountability and hopefully will help preventing and discouraging more violations of human rights,” he said.
US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield described the adoption of the resolution as “an important and historic moment”.
“Today, the international community took one collective step in the right direction. We ensured a persistent and egregious human rights violator will not be allowed to occupy a position of leadership on human rights at the UN,” she said.
“Let us continue to hold Russia accountable for this unprovoked, unjust, unconscionable war – and to do everything in our power to stand with the people of Ukraine.”
