India abstains on resolution suspending Russia from un Human Rights Council
Darpan News Desk IANS, 07 Apr, 2022 11:26 AM
United Nations, April 7 (IANS) India abstained on a General Assembly resolution that was passed on Thursday suspending Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.
Permanent Representative T.S. Tirumurti said after the vote: "If India has chosen any side, it is the side of peace and it is for an immediate end to violence."
He said of the abstention, "We do so for reasons of both substance and process."
He said that India abstained because it had reservations about how "due process" was applied to the resolution, while it "unequivocally condemned" the killings in Bucha in Ukraine, which was the impetus for the resolution.
"We firmly believe that all decisions should be taken fully respecting due process, as all our democratic polity and structures enjoin us to do. This applies to international organisations as well, particularly the United Nations," he said after the vote.
He said that India, which is a member of the 47-member Council, has unequivocally condemned the killings of civilians in Ukraine and supported the call for an independent investigation.
This was the eighth abstention at the UN by India on a matter involving the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Thursday's abstention by India was a defiance of Russia, which threatened those abstaining.
The adoption of the resolution with 93 votes giving it a two-thirds majority marked a big diplomatic win for the US and its allies.
The impetus for the resolution was images of atrocities against and killings of civilians in Bucha after Russian troops withdrew.
Twenty-four countries voted against it and 58 abstained.
On March 24, the General Assembly passed a resolution condemning Russia's invasion; India abstained on it.
High-stakes diplomacy preceded the voting on the latest resolution by both the West and Russia.
Russia threatened countries abstaining on the resolution will face consequences.
The Russian Mission circulated a note warning that Moscow will consider abstaining or absenting an "unfriendly" act that it will take into account in "the development of bilateral relations".
Many of the countries that abstained said that it was because it was premature to suspend Russia before an inquiry into the atrocities ordered by the Council was complete.
South Africa said that the resolution was prejudging the outcome of the commission of inquiry while "we are awaiting findings from the allegations of gross violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law".
The last suspension of a member of the Council was in 2011 when the Assembly voted to temporarily remove Libya.
The Council includes several members like China, Eritrea and Sudan, which have been accused of serious human rights violations.
Former President Donald Trump withdrew US from the Council in 2018, with the US Permanent Representative Nikki Haley saying that it makes a "mockery of human rights".
President Joe Biden brought the US back to the Council and it was elected a member last year for a three-year term.
The US had boycotted the Council for its first three years after it was founded in 2006.
A day earlier, Sonia Gandhi asked party chiefs Sidhu in Punjab, Ganesh Godiyal in Uttarakhand, Ajay Kumar Lallu in Uttar Pradesh, Girish Chodankar in Goa and Nameirakpam Loken Singh in Manipur to resign. Sidhu, once a Chief Minister aspirant, faced defeat from his stronghold Amritsar (East) seat.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, representing the family members, submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana that on March 10, a protected witness in the case had been attacked and the state government did not file an appeal challenging the bail granted to Misra in the case.
The SAD also announced the expulsion of Kalka from the primary membership of the party, besides dissolving the party's Delhi unit. It also announced the formation of a five-member ad hoc committee headed by veteran leader Avtar Singh Hit, and comprising Harinder Singh Kaypee, Bhupinder Singh Anand, Gurdev Singh Bhola, and Ravinder Singh Khurana.
In December last year, the Supreme Court had said it expects a fair investigation and investigating agencies should be neutral, as it asked Delhi Police to conclude the probe, by December 15, in a case against Singh.
Amid a call for leadership change in the party, Congress General Secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has called a meeting of party leaders on Tuesday to find out the reasons for the defeat. The Congress could only get just over 2 per cent votes and two seats in the Uttar Pradesh polls.
The plea argued that the high court granted bail without considering the heinous nature of the crime and also in the backdrop of overwhelming evidence against the accused in the charge sheet. The plea further argued that there is likelihood of the accused tampering with the witnesses and causing obstruction in justice.
