Russia lost its bid to retain a seat on the UN Human
Rights Council amid daily accusations that the country may be guilty of war
crimes for its support of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s assault on the
city of Aleppo.
The 193-member General
Assembly on Friday elected 14 countries to the 47-member council. With 112
votes, Russia lost to Hungry and Croatia. As many as 87 human rights groups had
objected to Russia’s candidacy, said Akshaya Kumar, deputy UN director for
Human Rights Watch, a New York-based advocacy group.
“It’s hard to imagine
the atrocities happening in Aleppo weren’t on the minds of the people casting
their votes today,” Kumar said. “This is a historic rejection.”
The humanitarian crisis in the eastern neighborhoods
of Aleppo worsened after a U.S.-Russian ceasefire deal fell apart and Assad’s
Russian-backed forces stepped up their campaign to defeat rebels holding the
city, where some 275,000 people remain trapped. The incessant bombing has
prompted some U.S. and European leaders to threaten possible sanctions, with
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry saying a war crimes investigation may be
warranted.
Russian ambassador
Vitaly Churkin downplayed the vote, saying that Croatia and Hungary, “are
fortunate because of their size they are not as exposed to the winds of
international diplomacy.” Russia had been on the council for a while and “I’m
sure next time we’re going to get in.”
Other countries elected
to the council on Friday included Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, China, Brazil,
Rwanda, Cuba, South Africa, Japan, Tunisia, the U.S. and the U.K.
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