In response to reports of human rights violations in the Ukraine war, the UN General Assembly denounced Russia’s membership of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

A corresponding resolution, introduced by Great Britain and the USA, among others, was passed by the General Assembly on Thursday in New York. 93 members vote for, 24 against, 58 expect. This resulted in the necessary two-thirds majority, for which abstentions were not counted.

The text of the resolution states that “the right of the Russian Federation to become a member of the Human Rights Council will be disclosed”. Such a step had previously been called for several times by representatives of Western countries. The leading industrialized countries (G7), including Germany, had also spoken out in favor of this in a statement before the vote: “We are convinced that it is now time to suspend Russia’s membership of the Human Rights Council.”

Unable to attend session

While Russia will now remain an official member of the Council until the end of its term, it will lose all rights of membership. For example, the country can no longer participate in meetings of the Human Rights Council, even as an observer.

The UN Human Rights Council is a Geneva-based subsidiary of the General Assembly, established in 2006 as the successor to the UN Human Rights Commission. It has 47 member states, each elected for three-year terms. Russia has been on the council again since 2020. − dpa