Amid the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war, UN General Assembly's emergency special session began to vote on removing Russia from UN Human Rights Council on Thursday. The move of the special session was initiated after after harrowing images emerged of corpses strewn across streets of the Ukrainian city Bucha, with Washington terming Moscow's participation in the top human rights body as a "farce".
Russia's current membership on the Council ends in December 2023.
The UNGA resumed the session started after a request from Antigua and Barbuda, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Georgia, Japan, Liberia, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, the UK, the US and the Head of the Delegation of the European Union, on behalf of 27 members of the EU bloc.
The Assembly will vote on a draft resolution that will decide to "suspend the rights of membership in the Human Rights Council of the Russian Federation".
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 requires two-thirds of yes/no votes to be adopted.
The draft resolution titled 'Suspension of the rights of membership of the Russian Federation in the Human Rights Council' notes the Human Rights Council resolution of March 4, 2022, in particular its grave concern regarding reports of "gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights" and "violations of international humanitarian law" committed by Russia during its aggression against Ukraine.
Earlier this week in Romanian capital Bucharest, US Ambassador at UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield had told reporters that Washington, in close coordination with Ukraine, European countries and other partners at the UN, was going to seek Russia's suspension from the UN Human Rights Council.
Since January, India has abstained on eight occasions on procedural votes and draft resolutions in the UN Security Council, the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council condemning Russian aggression against Ukraine.
New Delhi 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.
