UN General Assembly rejects Russian bid to rejoin human rights body

Russia was unable to regain its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) as the UN General Assembly (UNGA) rejected its bid. Russia was ousted from UNHRC after it invaded Ukraine last year.

Russia was competing with Bulgaria and Albania for two open spots for Eastern Europe regional group. It nonetheless received 83 votes in its favour from UNGA's 193 members.

The election for the body's 2024-2026 term had been viewed as a test of what Moscow contended was quiet support despite fierce Western-led criticism over its brutal assault on its neighbor.

The vote was held just days after a Russian missile attack targeted a Ukrainian village of Groza. More than 50 people died in the attack when global attention had shifted to Israel-Hamas war.

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"UN member states sent a strong signal to Russia's leadership that a government responsible for countless war crimes and crimes against humanity doesn’t belong on the Human Rights Council," said Louis Charbonneau of international NGO Human Rights Watch. He was quoted by AFP.

Albanian ambassador Ferit Hoxha said earlier that UN General Assembly faced an important choice" to "demonstrate that it is not ready to take an arsonist for a firefighter."

Albania received 123 votes while Bulgaria received 160.

Forty-seven members of the Human Rights Council are allocated by region. Usually, each regional group pre-selects its own candidates which are typically approved by the General Assembly.

But this year, there were more candidates than there were seats in two such groups.

In Latin America, Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Peru were vying for three seats, and in Eastern Europe, Albania, Bulgaria and Russia sought two seats.

The vote takes place by secret ballot.

Russia was ousted from UNHRC in April last year. At the time 93 countries had voted to suspend Russia while 24 had opposed the move.

The vote defending the territorial integrity of Ukraine drew approval from about 140 countries.

The United States has on number of occasions criticised the UNHRC and has alleged slant against Israel. However, under President Joe Biden, the USA rejoined the group after pullout by former president Donald Trump.

"Russia's reelection to that body, while it openly continues to commit war crimes and other atrocities, would be an ugly stain that would undermine the credibility of the institution and the United Nations," senior US diplomat Robert Wood said.

However, Vassily Nebenzia, the Russian Ambassador to the UN, asserted that there "are no beacons of democracy or rogue states, as is sometimes being portrayed."

"No member-state can claim to be immune from human rights violations. But the solution is to strengthen international regulation," he said.

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