Czech Republic Tuesday replaced Russia on the UN Human Rights Council following the latter’s suspension in April.
The General Assembly in a secret ballot voting elected Czech Republic to fill the vacant seat created by Russia’s suspension.
The ballot saw a large number of Member States voting in favour of the European country; 180 of the General Assembly’s 193 members deposited ballots. The result was 157 countries in favour of the Czech Republic and 23 abstentions.
According to AP, Czech Republic was the only candidate for the seat on the 47-member Human Rights Council. Seats on the Geneva-based council are divided among regional groups and a replacement for Russia had to come from an East European country.
Recall that the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in April voted to suspend Russia from the organisation’s leading human rights body amid allegations that Russian soldiers killed civilians while retreating from a region around Ukraine’s capital.
With that, Moscow became the first permanent member of the UN Security Council to ever have its membership revoked from any United Nations body.
The United States-initiated resolution achieved the two-thirds majority of UNGA voting members required to pass, with 93 votes cast in favour and 24 against. A total of 58 countries abstained, but their votes did not count towards the final tally.
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