Next week, the Russian Federation will seek re-election to the United Nations Human Rights Council by secret ballot.
This was reported by Reuters.
Amid creeping signs of war fatigue in Ukraine, some diplomats say Russia has a good chance of being re-elected to the UN Human Rights Council in a secret ballot on Tuesday, 18 months after it was ousted from the US-led body.
“I think there is fatigue with Ukraine. And secondly, a lot of people don’t want Western voices dominating the UN bodies, not to mention being superior,” a senior Asian diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Russia’s critics say that its re-election at a time when Ukraine is in the midst of a nearly 20-month war would undermine the credibility of the Geneva-based Security Council, one of the most effective UN bodies (according to the source).
But Moscow is actively campaigning for African, Asian, and other non-Western votes in the 193-member UN General Assembly, appealing to what it sees as hypocrisy and “unfair bias” by the United States and its allies.
The UN Human Rights Council does not have legally binding powers, but its meetings attract attention and it can order investigations to document abuses that sometimes become the basis for war crimes prosecutions.
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly called Moscow’s attempt to be re-elected for a second term a “farce.” Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Yevheniya Filipenko, called it “beyond comprehension and absurd.”
Although countries with questionable human rights records have been elected in the past, observers say that never in the Council’s 17-year history has a state as widely accused of egregious crimes as Russia been granted a vote.
Western countries also note that Russian President Vladimir Putin is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes in Ukraine.
“Obviously, this would be catastrophic for the Council’s credibility, as well as for the UN’s credibility with people – especially victims – around the world,” said Mark Limon, executive director of the Universal Rights Group.
In March last year, the Council launched an investigation into the war in Ukraine and accused Russian troops of violations that may amount to crimes against humanity. It also appointed an investigator to look into Moscow’s human rights record at home.
Unlike the UN Security Council in New York, where Russia is one of five permanent members with veto power, none of the 47 members of the Human Rights Council has veto power. However, the number of votes needed to launch politically sensitive investigations is getting smaller and smaller.
Thus, the world continues to “support” Moscow in its complete disregard for international law and the killing of many people and the genocide of the Ukrainian people that has been going on for centuries. And Western politicians, or African politicians, are not embarrassed by the fact that Russia continues its genocide because of the world’s complete inability to stop the aggressor, setting a precedent for future wars and conquests.
