St Vincent and the Grenadines were among 58 countries that abstained from voting to expel Russia from the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The US-proposed resolution to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council received 93 votes, with 24 countries opposed and 58 abstaining at the United Nations General Assembly today.
The resolution cited gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights by invading Russian troops in Ukraine.
Other Caribbean countries which abstained included; Barbados, Belize, Guyana, St Kitts, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname. Cuba voted against it.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield had called for Russia to be expelled from the 47-nation body on Monday, calling its participation a “farce,” after videos and photos from the town near Kiev showed dead bodies of what appeared to be civilians. Ukraine and the US accused Russia of a massacre, which Moscow has vehemently denied.
“Russia should not have a position of authority in a body whose purpose – whose very purpose – is to promote respect for human rights. Not only is it the height of hypocrisy – it is dangerous,” Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.
Prior to the vote, Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya urged countries to support the resolution.
“Bucha and dozens of other Ukrainian cities and villages, where thousands of peaceful residents have been killed, tortured, raped, abducted and robbed by the Russian Army, serve as an example of how dramatically far the Russian Federation has gone from its initial declarations in the human rights domain. That is why this case is unique and today’s response is obvious and self-explanatory,” he said.
This is not the first time that a Member State has had its membership in the Human Rights Council suspended. Libya lost its seat in 2011, following repression of protests by ruler Muammar Gaddafi, who was later overthrown.
Gennady Kuzmin, Deputy Russian ambassador, in remarks before the vote, called for countries to “vote against the attempt by Western countries and their allies to destroy the existing human rights architecture.”
