Statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry on the early termination of the Russian Federation’s membership in the UN Human Rights Council
07-04-2022
The Russian side considers the resolution adopted on April 7 in New York by the UN General Assembly to suspend the Russian Federation’s membership in the UN Human Rights Council as an unlawful and politically motivated step to demonstrably punish a sovereign UN member state pursuing an independent domestic and foreign policy.
The Russian Federation has decided to prematurely terminate its membership in the UN Human Rights Council as of April 7, 2022.
Russia has always regarded the UN Human Rights Council as an important component of the universal system of promotion and protection of human rights, whose main role is to promote constructive and as far as possible depoliticized inter-State dialogue on the key issues of the human rights agenda.
Unfortunately, in today’s conditions the Council is practically monopolized by one group of States that use it for their opportunistic purposes. While claiming to be the benchmark in the field of human rights, those States are directly involved in or condone gross and massive human rights violations. Despite their status as members of the Council, they are not prepared to compromise their vested political and economic interests for the sake of truly helping to stabilize the human rights situation in individual countries. Such actions violate the mandate entrusted to the UN Human Rights Council by the international community and undermine the credibility of the United Nations in general.
Russia’s sincere commitment to the protection and promotion of human rights makes it impossible for us to continue to be part of an international mechanism that has become the executor of the will of this group of countries that do not hesitate to openly blackmail sovereign states in order to push through their goals and obtain the necessary votes in decision-making.
Our decision to end our membership in the United Nations Human Rights Council ahead of schedule is not a retreat from Russia’s international human rights obligations.
The Russian Federation intends to continue to contribute to the strengthening of constructive dialogue on human rights and the involvement of all interested parties in the collective elaboration and adoption of decisions that meet the interests of all groups of States.
INTERNATIONALIST 360° 