UNHRC votes to probe violations by Russian troops, India abstains

GENEVA: The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to launch an inquiry into alleged serious violations committed by Russian troops in Ukraine, putting their conduct further under the microscope.

Concerned by extrajudicial executions, civilian casualties, the use of torture and abuses against children, the council voted 33-2 to create an investigation into alleged violations, with a view to holding the perpetrators to account.

China and Eritrea voted against the resolution, while 12 countries including India, Pakistan and Cuba abstained. Russia branded the extraordinary meeting of the UN’S top rights body a politicised stunt and refused to attend.

Telling the council that an 11-year-old boy, now traumatised, had been raped in front of his mother, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister Emine Dzhaparova said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces were inflicting “pure evil”.

Russia was committing “the most gruesome human rights violations on the European continent in decades”, she said, speaking from Kyiv.

“These have been 10 weeks of sheer horror to the people of my country. Torture and enforced disappearances, sexual and gender-based violence; the list of Russia’s crimes is endless.”

Commission of inquiry

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, triggering global condemnation and increasing international isolation for Moscow. The UN’S top rights body voted on March 4 to trigger a commission of inquiry (COI) the highest-possible level of investigation - into alleged Russian violations during the war.

The suburb of Bucha, north of Kyiv, became synonymous with allegations of Russian war crimes when dozens of bodies in civilian clothing were found there in early April, some with their hands tied, after Moscow’s troops pulled back.

Other allegations have come to light elsewhere in the country. Thursday’s resolution asked the COI to prioritise an investigation “to address the events in the areas of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy regions in late February and March... with a view to holding those responsible to account”. It asks the COI to brief the council about its progress at the September regular session, and to include the complete findings in its report to the March 2023 session.