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.
This comes just days after the COP26 climate summit, where India pledged to cut emissions to net zero by 2070, reduce carbon emissions by one billion tonnes by 2030, and raise the share of renewables in the energy mix to 50 per cent, among others, before staging a last-minute climbdown opposing a commitment to "phase out" coal.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday appointed Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, a former judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court, to monitor the Lakhimpur Kheri violence probe and to ensure fairness and independence in the investigation.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday junked petitions against the Punjab and Haryana High Court order, which upheld the appointment of Dinkar Gupta as Punjab Director General of Police.
Punjab has always stood against external intrusions and hence must be considered as a security case, not just as an economic case at the time of budgetary allocation, state Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said here on Tuesday. Badal made the demand during a virtual discussion with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on stepping up investment, infrastructure and growth in the country.
After a lacklustre outing in the 2017 Assembly polls, Kejriwal's AAP has rejuvenated its efforts to make a political dent in Goa for the upcoming 2022 state Assembly polls.
Addressing the gathering during a function to mark the death anniversary of former Punjab minister and Congress leader Santokh Singh Randhawa here, the Chief Minister thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for re-opening the Kartarpur corridor ahead of Prakash Purb of Guru Nanak Dev.
