File photo of the U.N. General Assembly. U.N. Photo—Loey Felipe
Pakistan, India among 58 states that abstained from the vote, while 93 were in its favor and 24 against
The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday suspended Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council over multiple reports of “systematic” human rights abuses in Ukraine during the ongoing invasion, prompting Moscow to announce it was quitting the body.
Led by the U.S., the motion to suspend Russia passed with 93 votes in favor, 24 against, and 58 abstentions, including Pakistan, India, and Saudi Arabia. China was among the countries that voted against the suspension. “Such a hasty move at the General Assembly, which forces countries to choose sides, will aggravate the division among member states and intensify the confrontation between the parties concerned—it is like adding fuel to the fire,” China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun said before the vote.
Overall, the U.S. needed a two thirds majority of voting members in the 193-member General Assembly—not counting abstentions—to suspend Russia from the 47-member Human Rights Council.
Describing the suspension as an “illegitimate and politically motivated step,” Russia’s deputy U.N. Ambassador Gennady Kuzmin announced that Moscow had now decided to quit the Human Rights Council altogether. In response, Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told reporters: “You do not submit your resignation after you are fired.”
The U.N. Human Rights Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. Russia was in the second year of a three-year term. While the resolution to suspend Russia had allowed for the UNGA to restore it at a later date, Moscow’s decision to quit ensures that this can no longer happen. The last time a country quit the Human Rights Council was in 2018, when the U.S. broke ranks over what it described as a “chronic bias” against Israel and a lack of reform.
Quitting the Council does not bar Russia from being re-elected to it at a future point in time; the U.S. was re-elected just last year.
In remarks to the General Assembly after the vote, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the global body had “sent a clear message that the suffering of victims and survivors will not be ignored.” She added: “We ensured a persistent and egregious human rights violator will not be allowed to occupy a position of leadership on human rights at the U.N.”
Thursday’s resolution marks the third time the General Assembly has censured Russia since it invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. It was prompted by reports, including testimony from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, of Russian forces torturing and killing unarmed civilians, and creating mass graves in cities that they have conquered.
Russia, however, maintains it is conducting a “special military operation” aimed at destroying Ukraine’s military infrastructure and denies any attacks on civilians. According to news agency Reuters, Moscow had warned countries ahead of the vote that a “yes” or “abstention” would be perceived as an “unfriendly gesture” with consequences for bilateral ties.