AA / Washington / Michael Hernandez
The United States announced on Monday that it will ensure that the UN General Assembly votes to exclude Russia from the Human Rights Council (HRC).
“We cannot allow a Member State that flouts all the principles we hold dear to continue to sit on the Human Rights Council. Nor should it occupy a position of authority and exploit its seat on the Council as a propaganda tool,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
The announcement follows the appearance over the weekend of videos and photos showing atrocities allegedly committed by Russian forces in Kyiv Oblast prior to their withdrawal from the region.
A member may be expelled from the Human Rights Council following a two-thirds majority vote of the General Assembly, if it is established that a State has engaged in gross abuses and systematic.
According to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, at least 410 corpses of civilians were found on Sunday in the town of Bucha. Russia has denied that its troops killed civilians as they retreated from towns near kyiv.
Ukraine has called on international organizations to send experts to the country as soon as possible to collect evidence of war crimes committed by Russian troops.
The State Department said the United States is currently supporting a multinational team of international prosecutors who are in the region “to collect, record, and analyze evidence of these abuses with a view to establishing criminal accountability.”
US President Joe Biden on Monday called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be tried for war crimes, saying he “should be held to account”.
The Russian war against Ukraine, which began on February 24, has aroused the indignation of the international community. The European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom, in particular, have imposed heavy financial sanctions on Moscow.
According to UN estimates, at least 1,430 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 2,097 others have been injured, but the true toll is likely to be much higher.
More than 4.1 million Ukrainians have also fled to other countries, and millions more have been internally displaced, according to the UN refugee agency.
*Translated from English by Mourad Belhaj
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