Russia fails in bid to return to UN’s Human Rights Council

Russia has failed in its bid to return to the United Nations top human rights body 18 months after it was suspended in the wake of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In a secret ballot of the General Assembly’s 193 members, Bulgaria emerged with 160 votes and Albania 123, giving each country a three-year term on the Human Rights Council starting from January 1, according to Al Jazeera.

Russia was third with 83 votes.

“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 there,” said Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch.

Russia was removed from the council in April 2022 in a diplomatic push led by the United States. The election for the coming term had been viewed as a test of Moscow’s diplomatic support amid fierce Western-led criticism over its brutal assault on its neighbour.

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