Demand for Russia’s removal from the council began after Russian forces were accused of killing civilians in, among others, Bocha, Ukraine.
On Thursday, the UN General Assembly decided to temporarily exclude Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.
93 countries supported the expulsion and 24 opposed it.
58 countries abstained.
Two-thirds of the votes cast in the General Assembly were to support the decision in order for Russia to temporarily lose its seat in the Council. Abstentions are not counted in determining the proportion of votes.
Civilian bodies were found in Butcha after the departure of Russian troops. Russia has denied killing civilians in Butcha, but satellite imagery has confirmed the bodies were already on the streets while the city was under Russian control.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister: War criminals are not members of human rights bodies
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba said on his Twitter account that he is grateful to the countries that voted to secede Russia.
“War criminals are not members of UN bodies dedicated to protecting human rights,” Kuleba said.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the country’s removal from the council was “illegal and politically motivated.”
– The intention has been to punish a UN member state that has pursued an independent domestic and foreign policy, the Foreign Ministry said.
UN Ambassador to Ukraine Serhi Kyslytsja said before the vote that membership of the Human Rights Council allowed Russia to disseminate lies about its own actions on a daily basis.
– The temporary separation of Russia is not an option but an obligation, he said before the vote, referring to the resolution that led to the establishment of the Human Rights Council.
That resolution specified that a member of the Council could be suspended by the UN General Assembly if a member state commits serious and systematic human rights violations.
Before the vote, Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Gennadi Kuzmin called the separation effort “human rights colonialism” and argued that the United States wanted to maintain its global dominance through separation.
Serbia and Hungary on the side of separation, against China
Finland, like the other Nordic countries, voted in favor of separating Russia. European countries Serbia and Hungary, which were reluctant to impose sanctions on Russia, also voted in favor of ousting Russia.
In addition to Russia itself, a number of allied countries voted against the separation. The former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan voted against the separation. China, which avoids criticizing the Russian offensive war, also voted against the dismissal.
Brazil, Mexico and India abstained from voting, and have tried not to take a strong stance on the war in Ukraine. Several African countries also abstained.
The expulsion of Russia was the second time that a member state has been expelled from the Human Rights Council. Libya was temporarily removed from the Council in 2011.
The Human Rights Council, established in 2006, has 47 member states elected by the UN General Assembly.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi has also called for Russia to be removed from the UN Security Council so that Russia cannot block decisions on its own hostilities.