Bulgarian Prosecutors Charge Five Foreigners With Illegal Exports To Russian Units In Ukraine

Russia’s attempt to regain its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council has failed in the UN General Assembly, which handed the two seats on the council available to the East European regional group to Bulgaria and Albania.

The secret ballot on October 10 for the Human Rights Council’s 2024-2026 term had been viewed as a test of Moscow’s contention that it had support from developing countries weary of the West’s billions of dollars in support of Ukraine and despite fierce Western-led criticism over its brutal assault on its neighbor.

Russia won 83 votes, considerably less than 160 for Bulgaria and 123 for Albania.

“UN member states sent a strong signal to Russia’s leadership that a government responsible for countless war crimes and crimes against humanity doesn’t belong on the Human Rights Council,” said Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Albanian Ambassador Ferit Hoxha said before the vote that the UN General Assembly had “an important choice” to “demonstrate that it is not ready to take an arsonist for a firefighter.”

In April 2022, less than two months after Russia invaded Ukraine, the General Assembly voted to suspend Russia from the 47-member council over “gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights” by invading Russian troops in Ukraine. The U.S.-initiated resolution passed with 93 votes in favor, 24 against, and 58 abstentions.

U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood told the Security Council before the vote that it would be an “ugly stain” that would undermine the credibility of the UN if Russia were re-elected to the Human Rights Council “while it openly continues to commit war crimes and other atrocities.”

Moscow’s UN ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, has accused the United States of leading a campaign to prevent Russia’s return to the council.

“The main phobia of our American colleagues today is electing Russia to the Human Rights Council,” Nebenzya told a Security Council meeting called by Ukraine to discuss last week’s strike by a Russian missile on a Ukrainian soldier’s wake in the village of Hroza that killed more than 50 people.

In the October 10 election, the only other competitive race was in the Latin America and Caribbean group in which Cuba, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic defeated Peru for the three seats available.

HRW had said Cuba didn’t deserve a place on the Council because of systematic rights violations, including the harassment, arbitrary detention, and torture of dissidents, but Cuba received 146 votes, the highest number among the four countries competing.

In the other regional races, which were not competitive, the Asian group put up China, Japan, Kuwait and Indonesia for four seats; the African group chose Burundi, Malawi, Ghana, and Ivory Coast for four seats; and the Western group has France and the Netherlands seeking two seats.

HRW called on General Assembly members to oppose the candidacies of Russia and China.

“Every day, Russia and China remind us by committing abuses on a massive scale that they should not be members of the UN Human Rights Council,” Louis Charbonneau, said in a statement on October 5.

HRW said Russian forces in Ukraine continue to commit “apparent war crimes, including unlawful attacks and mistreatment of prisoners, and crimes against humanity, including torture, summary executions, and enforced disappearances against civilians.”

The watchdog said China’s rights record should also disqualify it from the Human Rights Council, adding that discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in the western region of Xinjiang may constitute crimes against humanity.

The Geneva-based Human Rights Council was created in 2006 to replace a commission discredited because of some members’ poor rights records. But the new council soon came to face similar criticism, including that rights abusers sought seats to protect themselves and their allies.

The council reviews the human rights records of all countries periodically, appoints independent investigators to examine and report on issues like torture, and situations in countries like North Korea and Iran.

In last year’s election, Venezuela, South Korea, and Afghanistan lost contested races, but countries, including Vietnam and Sudan, which have been accused of having poor human rights records, won seats.

With reporting by AP and AFP