THE UN General Assembly voted on Thursday to suspend Russia from the world organisation’s leading human rights body. India abstained on the vote moved by the US over allegations that Russian soldiers killed civilians while retreating from towns near Kyiv.

The 193-member General Assembly voted on the draft resolution titled ‘Suspension of the rights of membership of the Russian Federation in the Human Rights Council’.

The vote was 93-24 with 58 abstentions, significantly lower than the vote on two resolutions the assembly adopted last month demanding an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine, withdrawal of all Russian troops and protection for civilians. Both of those resolutions were approved by at least 140 nations.

Since January this year, India has abstained on eight occasions on procedural votes and draft resolutions in the UN Security Council, the General Assembly and the HRC that deplored Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Russia is the second country to have its membership rights stripped at the Human Rights Council which was established in 2006. In 2011, the assembly suspended Libya when upheaval in the North African country brought down longtime leader Moammar Gadaffi.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield launched the campaign to suspend Russia in the wake of videos and photos of Bucha.

strewn with corpses of what appeared to be civilians after Russian soldiers retreated. The deaths have sparked global revulsion and calls for tougher sanctions on Russia, which has vehemently denied its troops were responsible.

New Delhi had on Tuesday unequivocally condemned the “deeply disturbing” reports of civilian killings in the Ukrainian city of Bucha and supported the call for an independent investigation, as it underlined that when innocent human lives are at stake, diplomacy must prevail as the only viable option.

“The situation in Ukraine has not shown any significant improvement since the Council last discussed the issue. The security situation has only deteriorated, as well as its humanitarian consequences,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti told a meeting on Ukraine in the UN Security Council on Tuesday that was addressed for the first time by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The General Assembly resumed its Emergency Special Session after a request from Antigua and Barbuda, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Georgia, Japan, Liberia, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States and the Head of the Delegation of the European Union, on behalf of 27 members of the European Union.

The Human Rights Council consists of 47 Member States, elected directly and individually by secret ballot by the majority of the members of the General Assembly. The General Assembly, by a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting, “may suspend the rights of membership in the Council of a member of the Council that commits gross and systematic violations of human rights.”

Abstentions do not count and the resolution required two-thirds of yes/no votes to be adopted.

Russia’s current membership on the Council ends in December 2023.

The draft resolution expresses “grave concern” at the ongoing human rights and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, particularly at the reports of violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law by Russia, including gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights. It recognises strong expressions of concern in statements by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and by the High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.