Russia Out of UN's Rights Council: Daily Brief

Yesterday, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to suspend the rights of membership of Russia in the Human Rights Council, over its massive violations of humanitarian and human rights laws. The voting result was 93 in favor, 24 against, and 58 abstentions. Human Rights Watch documented cases amounting to unspeakable, deliberate cruelty and violence against Ukrainian civilians, and the gruesome images from Bucha have shocked people around the world. This decision by the UN assembly sends the message that efforts will be made to hold Russia accountable. Investigators from the United Nations and the International Criminal Court should move swiftly to gather and preserve evidence of war crimes.

France's 2022 presidential election will happen on Sunday, and it is an opportunity for voters to make their vote count by examining the candidates’ commitment to human rights values. For this year's election, many important topics involve fundamental rights, including respect for the rule of law in France and Europe, women's rights, equal access to vaccines and health care amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the right to a clean, healthy, and safe environment, to be treated equally by the police, migrants’ rights, and the right to seek asylum. Here Human Rights Watch wrote a guide with 10 human rights issues they should consider. 

A few months ago, the US imposed sanctions on Bangladesh's paramilitary unit in response to credible and widespread allegations of serious human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances. Bangladesh responded to this by retaliating against victims’ relatives, human rights defenders and their families, and human rights organizations. Twelve rights organizations are calling for authorities to immediately cease harassment and reprisals against victims of human rights violations, human rights defenders, and their families. 

In a report released yesterday, Human Rights Watch documented that security forces in Greece are employing third country nationals to push asylum seekers back at the Greece-Turkey border. Twenty-six Afghans, both victims and witnesses, described how Greek police variously assaulted, robbed, and stripped them and others of their clothes; then took them to the banks of the Evros River, where they handed them over to men wearing black or commando-like uniforms and balaclavas. The use of third country nationals in violent expulsions is a growing trend, and it needs to stop. Using proxies does not relieve the Greek authorities of liability for all these violations at the border, and they should be held accountable by the European commission. 

In the US, the Biden administration is struggling to keep its commitments on human rights as it is dependant on autocrats for oil and gas. Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, Biden has had to reach out to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and senior officials from the United Arab Emirates, who have appalling records of rights abuses, including Saudi Arabia's mass execution and the Saudi and UAE-led coalition in Yemen unlawfully bombing hospitals. If the US reliance on fossil fuels has long been a justification for maintaining good relations with abusive states, the US Congress now has a central role to play in shifting US foreign policy to promote a human rights response to avert climate catastrophe.