UN Assembly suspends Russia from human rights council

New Delhi: The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday approved a resolution to suspend Russia from the world body's leading human rights organization as punishment for the invasion of Ukraine.

Of the 193 members of the assembly, 93 voted in favour of suspension while 24 voted against and 58 abstained, in only the second-ever suspension of a country from the council, after Libya in 2011.

Russia, China, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Syria, and Vietnam, were among those who voted against it.

Those abstaining, included India, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia.

"War criminals have no place in UN bodies aimed at protecting human rights," Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, tweeted in response. "Grateful to all member states which … chose the right side of history."

The move came over reports of "gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights" by invading Russian troops in Ukraine.

This past weekend, disturbing photos emerged from the city of Bucha, a suburb of the capital, Kyiv, where hundreds of civilian bodies were found in the streets and mass graves following Russia's withdrawal from the area.

Prior to the vote, Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya had 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.