U.N. General Assembly votes to suspend Russia from U.N. Human Rights Council; India abstains
The Hindu
The only time a Member State was suspended from the Geneva-based Human Rights Council was Libya in 2011
India on Thursday abstained in the United Nations General Assembly on a vote moved by the United States to suspend Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council over allegations that Russian soldiers killed civilians while retreating from towns near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
The 193-member General Assembly voted Thursday on the draft resolution titled ‘Suspension of the rights of membership of the Russian Federation in the Human Rights Council’.
Since January this year, India has abstained on eight occasions on procedural votes and draft resolutions in the U.N. Security Council, the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council that deplored Russian aggression against Ukraine.
New Delhi had on Tuesday unequivocally condemned the "deeply disturbing" reports of civilian killings in the Ukrainian city of Bucha and supported the call for an independent investigation, as it underlined that when innocent human lives are at stake, diplomacy must prevail as the only viable option.
"The situation in Ukraine has not shown any significant improvement since the Council last discussed the issue. The security situation has only deteriorated, as well as its humanitarian consequences," India’s Permanent Representative to the U.N. Ambassador T. S. Tirumurti told a meeting on Ukraine in the U.N. Security Council Tuesday that was addressed for the first time by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The General Assembly resumed its Emergency Special Session after a request from Antigua and Barbuda, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Georgia, Japan, Liberia, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States and the Head of the Delegation of the European Union, on behalf of 27 members of the European Union.
The Human Rights Council consists of 47 Member States, elected directly and individually by secret ballot by the majority of the members of the General Assembly. The General Assembly, by a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting, “may suspend the rights of membership in the Council of a member of the Council that commits gross and systematic violations of human rights.” Abstentions do not count and the resolution required two-thirds of yes/no votes to be adopted.
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