An overview of the special session on the situation in Ukraine of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland March 4, 2022. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
BUCHAREST, April 4 – The United States will ask the UN General Assembly to bar Russia from the Human Rights Council, the US ambassador to the United Nations said on Monday, after Ukraine accused Russian troops of killing dozens of civilians in the Having killed city of Bucha.
A two-thirds majority of the 193-member New York Assembly can expel a state from the Council if it persistently commits gross and systematic human rights abuses.
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in Bucharest on Monday: “Russia’s participation in the Human Rights Council is a farce.
“And it’s wrong, which is why we believe it’s about time the UN General Assembly voted to remove it.”
Thomas-Greenfield told Reuters she intends to put the motion to suspend Russia to a vote at the General Assembly this week.
Since the invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, the assembly has passed two resolutions denouncing Russia with at least 140 votes in favour. Moscow says it is conducting a “special military operation” to destroy Ukraine’s military infrastructure.
“My message to the 140 countries that bravely stood together is: The pictures from Bucha and the devastation across Ukraine require us to now put our words into action,” said Thomas-Greenfield, who is visiting Romania to to see how it is with an influx of refugees from Ukraine, told reporters.
Russia is in the second year of a three-year term on the 47-member Council based in Geneva. Moscow’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Council cannot make legally binding decisions, but its decisions send important political messages and it can order investigations.
It launched an investigation last month into alleged rights violations, including possible war crimes, in Ukraine since the Russian invasion. 32 deputies voted in favor of the resolution tabled by Ukraine. Russia and Eritrea voted against, 13, including China, abstained.
Bucha’s deputy mayor said around 50 bodies found after Kremlin troops withdrew were victims of extrajudicial killings by Russian forces. Continue reading
Reuters could not independently verify this information.
Ukrainian authorities said they were investigating possible war crimes there. The Kremlin categorically denied any allegations related to the killing of civilians in the city.
The United States has declared that war crimes were being committed in Ukraine, and US experts have gathered evidence to prove it.
The General Assembly previously expelled a country from the Human Rights Council. In March 2011, she unanimously suspended Libya over violence against protesters by forces loyal to then-leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Reporting by Michelle Nichols, editing by John Stonestreet