Ghana refuses to vote against Russia’s membership in the UN Human Rights Council
Ghana declined to vote as the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on Thursday, April 7 2022 calling for Russia to be suspended from the Human Rights Council.
An about two-thirds majority of those voting supported the resolution, minus abstentions.
The assembly constituting 193-members had 93 nations voting in favour of the resolution while 24 nations were against it.
Also, Fifty-eight states abstained from the process including South Africa, Mexico, Egypt, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Cambodia.
Meanwhile, Russia, China, Cuba, and North Korea were among the countries who voted against the resolution
The said meeting was to consider the resolution marked the resumption of a special emergency session on the war in Ukraine.
It came at a time Ukraine is accusing Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine.
This past weekend, photos and accounts have emerged from the city of Bucha, a suburb of the capital, Kyiv, where hundreds of civilian bodies were found in the streets and in mass graves following Russia’s withdrawal from the area.
Before the commencement of the vote, Ukrainian Ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, urged countries to support the resolution.
At the end of the polls, Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, expressed gratitude to the members who voted in favour of removing Russia from the council, saying, “war criminals have no place in UN bodies aimed at protecting human rights.”
Russia had been serving a three-year term on the 47-member council. The Human Rights Council is the UN body charged with safeguarding human rights.
