Capitol Hill takes steps to kick Russia out of the UN Security Council a step further
Two US lawmakers who lead the US government’s independent human rights watchdog have introduced a resolution calling on President Joe Biden to oust Russia from the UN Security Council, just days before the Kremlin’s hovering full-scale invasion of Ukraine reaches its 10-month mark.
The bipartisan Helsinki Commission, which titled U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, protesting Russia’s status as a permanent member of the Security Council in October, wants Congress to declare that Russia’s war has violated “the goals and principles of the United Nations” and is asking U.S. government agencies to take steps to limit Russia’s activities. privileges in the UN, although it gives the administration the freedom to decide how it might work.
In a congressional resolution that has been divided Foreign policyrepresentatives Steve Cohen and Joe Wilson said Russia had committed “egregious violations” of the UN Charter, questioning its right to sit on the Security Council, including an illegal annexation vote in four Ukrainian regions, atrocities in Ukrainian cities like Bucha, nuclear saber rattling and risks for the world’s food supply.
Two US lawmakers who lead the US government’s independent human rights watchdog have introduced a resolution calling on President Joe Biden to oust Russia from the UN Security Council, just days before the Kremlin’s hovering full-scale invasion of Ukraine reaches its 10-month mark.
The bipartisan Helsinki Commission, which titled U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, protesting Russia’s status as a permanent member of the Security Council in October, wants Congress to declare that Russia’s war has violated “the goals and principles of the United Nations” and is asking U.S. government agencies to take steps to limit Russia’s activities. privileges in the UN, although it gives the administration the freedom to decide how it might work.
In a congressional resolution that has been divided Foreign policyrepresentatives Steve Cohen and Joe Wilson said Russia had committed “egregious violations” of the UN Charter, questioning its right to sit on the Security Council, including an illegal annexation vote in four Ukrainian regions, atrocities in Ukrainian cities like Bucha, nuclear saber rattling and risks for the world’s food supply.
Ukraine has also advocated removing Russia from the council, although experts doubt such moves would work. The UN Charter does not contain provisions on the dismissal of a permanent member of the Security Council. While countries can be removed from the United Nations entirely, it would require a two-thirds majority in the General Assembly, including the unanimous consent of the Council itself.
“Russia would have to agree to that, and it’s just not going to happen,” said Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch. China is also unlikely to agree to such a precedent.
While the House resolutions are not binding laws, the move reinforces thinking both on Capitol Hill and in the Biden administration about curbing Russian influence in Turtle Bay. The resolution carries forward an earlier effort by the Helsinki Commission — established in 1975 as part of a U.S. law that established a brief standoff between the U.S. and the Soviet Union — calling on the State Department to initiate a process to remove Russia’s seat. in the UN’s highest body.
One idea supported by the Commission and some legal scholars, seeks to question Russia’s position as the successor to the Soviet Union’s Security Council seat. As one of the first signatories of the treaty establishing the Soviet Union, along with Russia and Belarus, Kiev could convincingly present itself as the only successor state of the Soviet Union that has not flagrantly violated the principles of the UN Charter and issued credentials. one of its own diplomats takes the seat. Because the proxy decision is a procedural matter, it would require only nine of the council’s 15 members to vote for Ukraine, says Thomas Grant, a senior researcher at the University of Cambridge. argued.
The feasibility of such a plan remains a discussion topic. And three decades after Russia took the place of the Soviet Union, challenging such a precedent could also prove to be an uphill battle. “You’re looking at three decades of Russian recognition in this place,” Charbonneau said.
But Russia’s long-term intransigence and full-scale invasion of Ukraine has prompted both the United States and Ukraine to consider options to reduce Moscow’s influence. Speaking at the UN General Assembly in September, Biden called for reform of the Security Council, including the possibility of adding permanent and non-permanent members, such as those from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. On Wednesday, the United States also succeeded in ousting Iran from the UN panel on women’s rights.