Russia suspended from UN Human Rights Council
The UN General Assembly at its resumed 11th emergency special session at the UN Headquarters in New York voted to suspend Russia’s membership in the UN Human Rights Council. UN website says.
It is specified that the resolution proposed by Ukraine and more than 50 other UN member states was supported by 93 states, 24 delegations voted against and 58 abstained.
Kyrgyzstan voted against suspension of Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan as well as Iran, China and others chose the same position. Armenia and Azerbaijan did not vote.
The resolution is titled «Suspension of Rights of the Russian Federation Associated with Membership in the UN Human Rights Council,» and the voting was based on another document, a General Assembly resolution that established the UN Human Rights Council in 2006. In particular, it states that «the General Assembly, by a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting, may suspend a member of the Council who commits gross and systematic violations of human rights.»
Speaking before the voting, Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the UN Sergiy Kyslytsya said that suspension of a member of the UN Human Rights Council, who «grossly violates human rights,» is an obligation, not a choice.
The UN Human Rights Council consists of 47 member states, each of which is elected by the majority of General Assembly members by direct secret ballot on the basis of the principle of equitable geographical distribution.
