THE UN General Assembly will vote on whether to suspend Russia from its premiere human rights body.
The move was initiated by the US in response to the discovery of hundreds of bodies after Russian troops withdrew from towns near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, sparking calls for its forces to be tried for war crimes.
US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield made the call for Russia to be stripped of its seat on the 47-member Human Rights Council in the wake of videos and photos of streets in the town of Bucha strewn with the corpses of what appeared to be civilians.
The videos and reporting from the town have sparked global revulsion and calls for tougher sanctions on Russia, which has vehemently denied responsibility.
“We believe that members of the Russian forces committed war crimes in Ukraine, and we believe that Russia needs to be held accountable,” Thomas-Greenfield said on Monday.
“Russia’s participation on the Human Rights Council is a farce.”
General Assembly spokeswoman Paulina Kubiak said yesterday the assembly’s emergency special session on Ukraine will resume today when the resolution “to suspend the rights of membership in the Human Rights Council of the Russian Federation” will be put to a vote.
While the Human Rights Council is based in Geneva, its members are elected by the 193-nation General Assembly for three-year terms.
The March 2006 resolution that established the Human Rights Council states that the assembly may suspend membership rights of a country “that commits gross and systematic violations of human rights”.
The brief resolution to be voted on expresses “grave concern at the ongoing human rights and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, particularly at the reports of violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law by the Russian Federation, including gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights”.
To be approved, the resolution requires a two-thirds majority of assembly members that vote “yes” or “no”. Abstentions do not count.
Meanwhile, Ukraine gathered its dead and collected evidence of Russian atrocities on the ruined outskirts of Kyiv as the two sides geared up for what could become a climactic battle by Moscow’s forces to seize the country’s industrial east.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces were trying to push deep into Ukraine in the east – but that the Ukrainian army was holding them back.
“The fate of our land and of our people is being decided. We know what we are fighting for. And we will do everything to win,”
Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian officials have stepped up calls for civilians to evacuate westward from towns near the frontline ahead of the anticipated offensive.
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