Ukraine: Massari, “Russia’s suspension necessary for integrity of the HR Council”

NEW YORK, APRIL 7 – “The suspension of the Russian Federation from the Human Rights Council was necessary to uphold the integrity of the Council itself, to reaffirm the authority of the General Assembly and of the UN system, and to send the clear message that gross and systematic violations of human rights cannot be tolerated anywhere in the world”, the Italian Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Maurizio Massari, said  today after the adoption of the third General Assembly resolution in a month on the war in Ukraine.

Italy actively participated in the preliminary stages of the vote, both as co-editor of the text, and by co-sponsoring the draft. “Accountability must be ensured for the individual perpetrators of such violations, to avoid any form of impunity” Massari said, but “the current situation has provided abounded ground to take immediate action”. The Italian Ambassador recalled “the horrifying images that shocked the world of civilians brutally killed and lying dead in the streets or in improvised mass graves in the Ukrainian town of Bucha – an area which was under the control of the Russian forces”.

Sadly, these horrors added on to the already gruesome depiction of the human rights situation in Ukraine, in the context of the Russian aggression, provided by the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, last March 26th. “The testimony of rapes and sexual violence by Russian troops that are now emerging – against women, children, and older persons – are also utterly disturbing”, added Massari. “While reaffirming its condemnation of the Russian aggression, Italy reiterates its call for an immediate cessation of hostilities, the withdrawal of the Russian military forces from the international recognized borders of Ukraine and the return to a negotiating path. Italy also reaffirms our heartfelt solidarity with Ukraine and its people and mourn all the victims of this senseless war”, concluded Massari. 

The resolution was adopted with 93 votes in favor, 24 against and 58 abstentions, while some 20 countries did not participate in the vote. Only one other time, when Libya was suspended in 2011, has a UN member been ousted from the Human Rights Council, following repression of protests by ruler Muammar Gaddafi, who was later overthrown.(@OnuItalia)