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The UN Normal Meeting voted to droop Russia from the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday, the most recent in a collection of resolutions denouncing the Ukraine invasion.
The transfer comes after Ukraine and its companions accused Russia of committing conflict crimes in Ukraine.
“We have to take motion in the present day to avoid wasting the council from sinking,” Ukraine’s UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya stated earlier than the vote.
Of the 193 members within the meeting, 93 voted in favor and 24 voted in opposition to. Some 58 members abstained, giving the vote the two-thirds majority wanted to cross.
Compared to earlier votes condemning Russia’s invasion, a higher variety of Russia-friendly international locations equivalent to China voted in opposition to the proposal reasonably than merely abstaining.
Ukrainian Overseas Minister Dmytro Kuleba thanked the members who voted in favor of eradicating Russia from the council in a message on Twitter. “Battle criminals haven’t any place in UN our bodies geared toward defending human rights,” he wrote.
Russia had been serving a three-year time period on the 47-member council — the physique charged with defending human rights.
You possibly can watch the session stay right here.
Mass killings in Ukraine
Video and photographic materials from Bucha, in addition to different beforehand occupied cities close to the capital Kyiv, present scores of lifeless civilians. Ukrainian authorities have stated they discovered greater than 300 our bodies, of which 50 appeared to have been executed.
Russia has denied the accusations and stated that the pictures have been staged. Most Western international locations have rejected this declare.
Ukraine had beforehand accused Russia of concentrating on civilians and residential buildings with its shelling and airstrikes. A strike that hit a kids’s hospital and maternity ward drew worldwide condemnation.
Russia is simply the second nation to have its membership within the Human Rights Council revoked, following Libya in 2011. On the time, longtime chief Moammar Gadhafi was going through off in opposition to well-liked upheavals.
Veiled threats from Moscow
Russia issued a warning on Wednesday forward of the session, saying that international locations that vote consistent with the US would face penalties.
A letter seen by Reuters additionally threatened international locations that abstained or refused to take part within the vote, saying that this may serve Washington’s goals.
The marketing campaign to droop Russia was launched by US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
The earlier votes by the UN Normal Meeting noticed many international locations abstain. These included often pleasant international locations equivalent to China and India who’ve refused to criticize the invasion.
This led to 2 overwhelming votes to sentence Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
ab, sl/msh (Reuters, AFP)
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