MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) – Russia has now declared its membership of the United Nations Human Rights Council prematurely terminated after a suspension. The decision was made after the UN General Assembly suspended membership on Thursday afternoon, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow in the evening.
After reports of Russian human rights violations in the Ukraine war, the General Assembly initially suspended the country. On the other hand, the ministry in Moscow announced that it was an illegal and politically motivated step. The goal is to demonstratively punish Russia as a sovereign UN member for pursuing an independent domestic and foreign policy, the ministry said.
The UN members had previously passed a resolution in New York, which was introduced by Great Britain and the USA, among others, with the necessary two-thirds majority. 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 of which is elected for a three-year term./mau/DP/zb