Malaysia abstains from vote on Russia's UN Human Rights Council membership

 

Malaysia was among 58 countries that abstained from a United Nations General Assembly vote to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.

Regional neighbours who also abstained from the vote are Brunei, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia.

Myanmar and the Philippines were the only Asean countries that voted in favour, while Vietnam and Laos voted against.

The General Assembly succeeded in passing the resolution yesterday to suspend Russia with 93 votes in favour and 24 against.

Following this, Russia withdrew from the Human Rights Council.

URGENT🚨

The UN General Assembly votes to suspend Russia's membership in the UN Human Rights Council @UN_HRC

In favor: 93

Abstained: 58

Against: 24 pic.twitter.com/6EavdZJspc

— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) April 7, 2022

The Human Rights Council is the UN instrument to promote human rights and investigate violations of those rights.

Malaysia is a member of the council for the 2022-2024 term.

On March 2, Malaysia had voted in favour of a UN resolution to condemn Russia's "aggression" in Ukraine and demanded an immediate, unconditional withdrawal.

Russia's suspension from the council comes amidst photographs emerging from Bucha, Ukraine, depicting many civilian bodies in streets and mass graves.

The situation in Bucha was only known after Ukrainian forces retook the area following a withdrawal by Russian invaders.

According to the New York Times, satellite images had shown dead civilians in Bucha since March 11 - three weeks before the photographs surfaced.

Russia has claimed that those photographs were "another hoax" perpetrated by "Ukrainian radicals".

Gennady Kuzmin, Russia's representative at the UN General Assembly, said after the adoption of the resolution that the Human Rights Council was monopolised by a group of states who use it for their short-term aims.

"These states for many years have directly been involved in blatant and massive violations of human rights or abetted those violations.

"In spite of their membership as members of the council, they are not ready to sacrifice their short-term political and economic interests in favour of true cooperation and stabilising the human rights situation in certain countries."

China, which voted against the resolution, said the passing of the resolution would only add fuel to the fire, aggravate divisions, intensify conflict and jeopardise peace efforts.

"Dealing with the membership of the Human Rights Council in such a way will set a new dangerous precedent, further intensify confrontation in the field of human rights, bring a greater impact on the UN governance system, and produce serious consequences," said China's representative Zhang Jun.

- Mkini