The UN General Assembly votes to suspend Russia's membership in the UN Human Rights Council

  [Global Times reporter Xiao Da Sui Xin Zou Song Guo Xiaowei Chen Kang Liu Yupeng] The United Nations General Assembly held an emergency special meeting on the Ukraine issue on the 7th and voted to pass a resolution on suspending Russia's membership in the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Russia's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Kuzmin, said at the meeting that Russia considers the resolution an "illegal and politically motivated move."

Although the UN General Assembly passed the resolution, many countries, especially India, Egypt, Brazil, Mexico and developing countries such as Iran and Vietnam, abstained or voted against it.

These countries believe that excluding Russia from the Human Rights Council is not only conducive to the promotion and protection of human rights, but also to the de-escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

AFP said it showed "the weakening of the international community's unity against Russia at the United Nations".

China voted against it.

Zhang Jun, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations, said at the meeting that this approach will only exacerbate the division of member states, intensify the conflicts between the parties, and add fuel to the fire.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on the 8th that handling the membership of the Human Rights Council in this way will create a new dangerous precedent.

"Illegal, politically motivated move"

  An emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution on the 7th to suspend Russia's membership in the Human Rights Council.

The draft resolution was jointly submitted by dozens of countries including the United States and Ukraine.

The result of the vote that day was 93 votes in favor, 24 votes against, and 58 abstentions.

According to the relevant procedures of the United Nations, more than 2/3 of the members voted in favor (abstentions and non-voters are not counted), and the draft resolution was passed.

  At the UN General Assembly meeting, various countries made speeches and heatedly debated the resolution.

Russia's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Kuzmin, said the resolution passed by the General Assembly on suspending Russia's membership in the UN Human Rights Council was an "illegal and politically motivated move".

The Human Rights Council, he said, "has been monopolized by a group of countries that have used it to achieve their own short-term goals and that have been blatantly violating human rights on a large scale for years, or abetting those violations".

He also said that Russia will terminate its membership in the Human Rights Council early from that day.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the decision to terminate the membership of the Human Rights Council early does not deviate from Russia's international obligations in the field of human rights.

  Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, called the vote a "historic moment."

"It's not just about accountability for Russia, it's about the credibility of the United Nations..." she said. Ukraine's permanent representative to the United Nations, Kislitya, said: "Suspension of Russia's Human Rights Council seat is not an option, it's a responsibility ."

  Countries that abstained from voting, such as Brazil and Egypt, believed that the Human Rights Council had decided in March to set up an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate Russia's actions in the Russian-Ukrainian war, and relevant work is currently underway.

The recent "Buca incident" also urgently needs a comprehensive and independent investigation.

Under these circumstances, rushing to exclude Russia from the Human Rights Council will not help relevant investigations, nor will it be conducive to the promotion and protection of human rights through multilateral means.

  Zhang Jun, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations, said in his explanation speech before the vote that the drafting process of the draft resolution was not open and non-transparent, nor did it hold consultations with all member states as usual to listen to opinions widely.

Under such circumstances, rushing to take action at the UN General Assembly and forcing countries to choose sides will aggravate the division of member states, intensify the contradictions between the parties, and add fuel to the fire.

  Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of China Foreign Affairs University, said in an interview with a reporter from the Global Times on the 8th that although American and Western public opinion hyped up the "Bucha incident", they proposed a proposal to suspend the membership of Russia's Human Rights Council on this ground.

However, judging from the voting results, the number of countries voting against and abstaining from voting has increased significantly compared with the last time the UN General Assembly passed a resolution condemning Russia.

Because the United States and Western countries and their public opinion are accustomed to fabricating stories and distorting the authenticity of some events, such as using washing powder to fabricate the lie that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and launching the Iraq war, the so-called "white helmet" organization in Syria fabricated the so-called war in Syria. More and more countries are becoming more alert to these unbearable records of the United States and the West.

'We are on the side of peace'

  Agence France-Presse said the vote showed that "international solidarity at the United Nations against Russia is weakening".

On March 2, the 11th emergency special session of the UN General Assembly passed a resolution condemning Russia, with 141 votes in favour, 5 against and 35 abstentions.

"The Washington Post" said that "the consensus against Russia is not as strong as when the General Assembly voted at the UN General Assembly last month."

Some countries said it was premature to suspend Russia's Human Rights Council, given the ongoing investigation into Russia's alleged war crimes.

  In this vote, the performance of Latin American countries, which are regarded as the "backyard of the United States", surprised the US side.

The United States "Miami Herald" said that in the vote, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia voted against it.

"Can this General Assembly pass a resolution suspending the membership of the United States in the Human Rights Council?" said the Cuban representative The sex war has resulted in blatant and massive violations of human rights.” Even more surprising, the region’s two heavyweights, Mexico and Brazil, abstained, along with numerous other Latin American countries.

The representative of Mexico called for "keeping all diplomatic channels open" to find a peaceful solution to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Farnsworth, vice-president of the American Association of America, said: "It is disappointing for the United States that so many Latin American countries voted against and abstained."

  "Africa Report" website said that diplomatic dialogue is the correct way to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, "Unfortunately, this resolution will further polarize the crisis in Ukraine, and the General Assembly did not follow the formal procedures for reaching a resolution."

The report quoted South Africa's ambassador to the United Nations, Mabuhonho, as saying that when considering the suspension of a country's membership of the Human Rights Council, the resolution must be unanimous, not selective.

South Africa is worried that the resolution will damage the credibility of the United Nations and the Human Rights Council, "South Africa firmly believes that today's draft resolution is premature."

  "India will only stand on the side of peace," said the Indian News Network, which abstained from voting.

The report quoted India's permanent representative to the United Nations, Tirumurthi, as saying: "If India chooses a side, it will only be the side of peace... India calls for an immediate end to the conflict." India's "Economic Times" stated that India believes that any similar Resolutions are subject to "due process" of investigation.

  In addition, many countries are also threatened by the West.

Serbian President Vucic said on the 7th that Serbia voted in favor because of pressure and intimidation from the West.

Vucic said that Serbia is the only country in Europe that has not imposed sanctions on Russia. "Before the UNGA vote, our initial decision was to abstain, and then we were under a lot of pressure. They (the United States and the West) were intimidating Serbia, and now Serbia's fate is in their hands."

 The United States once called the Human Rights Council a "cesspool"

  Regarding Russia's suspension of membership of the UN Human Rights Council, the first deputy chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian Federation Council (Upper House) Jabarov said on the 8th that the suspension of Russia's membership in the UN Human Rights Council was illegal, and the United States tried to provoke anger. Russia.

Jabarov asked what the Human Rights Council did when the United States, one of the main sponsors of the resolution, committed inhumane crimes in Afghanistan and other countries?

The United States even pulled out of the Human Rights Council in a blatant and provocative manner.

  In fact, the United States has always used the Human Rights Council as appropriate, and criticized, humiliated, and even retreated from it if it did not.

The "Washington Post" admitted on the 7th that a few years ago, the then permanent representative of the United States to the United Nations, Haley, accused the Human Rights Council of having become a "cesspool of political bias."

Then-Secretary of State Pompeo also publicly stated that the United States withdrew from the agency because "we cannot be part of a self-serving hypocritical organization that mocks human rights."

The Russian "Kommersant" said that since the establishment of the Human Rights Council in 2006, the United States has refused to join.

It wasn't until 2009, when Obama became president, that he decided to join.

Since then, the United States and the West have repeatedly pointed fingers at Third World countries, China and Russia under the pretext of human rights issues.

Nine years later, the Trump administration announced its withdrawal from the Human Rights Council over criticism of Israel, a U.S. ally.

  Li Haidong said that the United States and the West wooed some countries to pass such a resolution. What they were thinking of was not peace, but fueling the fire. They used this resolution to pursue and fight against Russia, trying to conduct a global mobilization to completely defeat Russia. .

The United States and the West have always used United Nations agencies, including the Human Rights Council, as tools, and such an operation would disable or paralyze the functioning of relevant United Nations agencies.