Ukraine, supported by a large coalition of countries, wants to take advantage of the UN platform in Geneva to denounce the Russian invasion and launch an investigation as soon as possible into human rights violations by Moscow.
The Russian assaults have turned the opening of the 49th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) upside down, to be opened by United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday and in which many ministers are to participate, including the head of diplomacy. Russian Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday.
Sergei Lavrov must also hold a press conference on Tuesday and speak to the Disarmament Conference in Geneva.
At the request of Ukraine, the 47 countries of the HRC, of which Russia is a member, as well as the other four permanent members of the Security Council (the United States, China, France and the United Kingdom), must decide on Monday at 8 h GMT of holding an urgent debate on the Russian invasion.
During the urgent debate, which is expected to take place later this week, Kyiv and its supporters hope to pass a resolution condemning the invasion and calling for the creation of a UN mechanism to investigate alleged human rights violations. Man by the troops of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In New York, a special session of the General Assembly is also scheduled for Monday for its 193 members to vote on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In Geneva, Russia can ask for a vote on Monday to oppose the holding of the urgent debate, but it should be impossible for it to gather the necessary support.
On Tuesday, the heads of US diplomats, Antony Blinken, and of the EU, Josep Borrell, will address the Council in video messages. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will do the same on Wednesday.
The debates will also be opened on Monday by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, who has not yet commented on an American letter claiming that there is a blacklist, drawn up by Moscow, of ‘Ukrainians to be eliminated in case of invasion.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is also due to deliver a speech, by video, on Monday.
Suspension of Russia?
The Swiss president and head of diplomacy Ignazio Cassis will be present in Geneva before a meeting of the federal government which must decide on new sanctions against Russia.
Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine at dawn on February 24, with air strikes and penetration of ground forces, including in the direction of the capital Kiev. The attack caused an outcry in the international community and triggered a battery of international sanctions.
Some 368,000 refugees have fled the fighting since the outbreak of the Russian invasion, more than half of whom have entered Poland, and the number continues to rise, according to a UN report on Sunday.
NGOs in Geneva, including the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT), are asking the UN General Assembly to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council after its offensive in Ukraine.
The Council is made up of 47 member states – some of which are regularly denounced for their violations of human rights – who are elected by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Ethiopia, Burma, Sudan…many other crises and human rights violations will be discussed by the Council in the coming weeks.
No one yet knows whether Ms. Bachelet plans to publish her long-awaited report on the situation in China’s Xinjiang region during the session.
According to human rights organizations, at least a million Uyghurs and members of other Turkic minorities, mainly Muslims, are or have been incarcerated in camps in this region of northwestern China.
Beijing says they are vocational training centers meant to steer them away from terrorism and separatism. Ms. Bachelet has long asked to be able to carry out the investigation on the spot, which China refuses.