The UN General Assembly is due to vote on Thursday on whether to suspend Russia’s membership in the UN Human Rights Council in light of the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
A meeting on the matter has been scheduled for 1400 GMT.
Representatives are being asked to vote on a resolution introduced by the United States and Britain, among others, which would suspend Russia from the 47-member council, considered the UN’s top rights body.
The Geneva-based council was established in 2006. Each member state on the body is elected to a three-year term.
The council frequently produces critical reports on the violation of human rights in countries around the world. On the other hand, critics accuse it of not sufficiently condemning abuses by major powers such as China. It also happens time and again that countries accused of human rights violations are represented in the body.
In order to suspend the membership of a country, three-quarters of the members of the UN General Assembly must vote in favour. If that majority were to be met in the assembly on Thursday, Russia would officially remain a member until the end of its term, but would lose all the rights of that membership. For example, the country would no longer be able to participate in the sessions, not even as an observer.
In the history of the Human Rights Council, only one country has been booted out: Libya was expelled in March 2011 for its brutal crackdown on protesters.
In 2018, the US withdrew from the Human Rights Council under president Donald Trump, but returned in 2021 under his successor, Joe Biden.
