The UN Human Rights Council, meeting in extraordinary session, is examining Thursday the allegations of serious abuses committed by Russia in Ukraine, in particular in Mariupol and Boutcha.
• To read also: Ukraine: a pro-Russian official evokes an annexation of the Kherson region, gas disruptions
• Read also: Ukraine: first trial for war crimes linked to the Russian invasion
• Read also: [LIVE] 77th day of war in Ukraine: here are all the latest developments
This meeting “on the deterioration of the human rights situation in Ukraine following the Russian aggression” was requested by Kyiv, which, according to a first draft resolution, wants an investigation into what happened happened in Kyiv, Cherniguiv, Kharkiv and Sumy regions.
This is the first meeting devoted to the deteriorating human rights situation in Ukraine since the UN General Assembly suspended Moscow in early April from the highest body of the international organization in human rights.
Russia having anticipated its suspension by renouncing its status as a member of the Human Rights Council, it can participate in the work of the Council as an observer. It also has the opportunity on Thursday to make use of its right of reply as a country concerned. But Moscow decided not to participate.
“The Russian delegation will not legitimize by its presence this new political spectacle organized in the form of an extraordinary session”, announced the spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova.
“Unfortunately, our arguments and clarifications on the real objectives of this special military operation and the real situation on the ground are completely ignored. It is obvious that they will not be heard this time either”, she lamented, describing this session as “a new anti-Russian approach from the ‘collective West’”.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, who has previously accused the Russian military of actions ‘possibly amounting to war crimes’ in Ukraine since the February 24 invasion, is due to open the session at 08:00 GMT.
The draft resolution denounces “the alarming number of civilian casualties caused by the aggression against Ukraine” and condemns attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure.
“Special Investigation”
The text, which may still be subject to modifications, asks the UN’s international commission of inquiry on Ukraine to “conduct a special, exhaustive and independent investigation (…) into the events that took place in the regions of Kyiv, Cherniguiv, Kharkiv and Sumy at the end of February and in March 2022 (…) with a view to holding those responsible to account”.
He also asks Ms Bachelet to take stock – during the 50th session of the Council (June 13 to July 8) – of the humanitarian and human rights situation in Mariupol, now almost entirely under the control of Russian forces.
Ukraine, which is continuing its diplomatic fight in Geneva to isolate the invader with the help of its main Western allies, is supported in its approach before the Council by more than fifty countries.
“Together, we send another strong message to Putin and his clique of war criminals: you are isolated like never before,” Ukrainian Ambassador to the UN Yevheniia Filipenko said in a video on Twitter.
“We want the UN to take concrete action to address Russia’s human rights violations in Ukraine and the war crimes it commits daily against our people. This includes an investigation by the Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Committed by Russia in Bucha and other liberated areas,” she asked.
At the end of a meeting in early March also requested by Kyiv, the Human Rights Council adopted by an overwhelming majority a resolution by which it had decided to urgently create an independent international commission of inquiry.
Since then, the dissemination in the international media of photos taken in Boutcha and showing bodies in the street, some with their hands tied behind their backs or partially burned, as well as mass graves, have provoked a wave of international condemnation.
The UN has documented the murder of dozens of civilians in this small town that has become the symbol of the atrocities attributed to Russia. But Moscow denies any responsibility and speaks of a “staging”.
1
