UN General Assembly Suspends Russia from Human Rights Council

The United States led the push to suspend Russia from the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council as punishment for the invasion of Ukraine TIMOTHY A. CLARY AFP
The United States led the push to suspend Russia from the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council as punishment for the invasion of Ukraine TIMOTHY A. CLARY AFP
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UN General Assembly Suspends Russia from Human Rights Council

The United States led the push to suspend Russia from the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council as punishment for the invasion of Ukraine TIMOTHY A. CLARY AFP
The United States led the push to suspend Russia from the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council as punishment for the invasion of Ukraine TIMOTHY A. CLARY AFP

The UN General Assembly voted Thursday to suspend Russia from the global body's Human Rights Council as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine.

The high-profile rebuke of Moscow marked only the second ever suspension of a country from the council -- Libya was the first, in 2011 -- and it earned praise from Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and his American counterpart Joe Biden, AFP said.

The expulsion confirmed Moscow as an "international pariah," Biden said in a searing statement that addressed what he called "horrifying" images from Ukrainian towns like Bucha, where Russian forces are accused of atrocities against civilians.

"Russia's lies are no match for the undeniable evidence of what is happening in Ukraine," Biden said.

"The signs of people being raped, tortured, executed -- in some cases having their bodies desecrated -- are an outrage to our common humanity."

Zelensky, who has longed called for a tougher international position against Moscow, applauded the UN move as "an important step," describing it on Twitter as "another punishment for RF's (Russia's) aggression" against Ukraine.

Of the 193 members of the General Assembly, 93 voted in favor of suspension as proposed by the United States, while 24 voted against. Fifty-eight abstained and the remainder did not participate, suggesting a weakening international unity against Russia at the United Nations.

Suspension required support from two-thirds of the member countries casting votes for or against; the abstentions and absences did not count.

Russia swiftly rejected the suspension, with its foreign ministry blasting the move as "illegal and politically motivated, aimed at ostentatiously punishing a sovereign UN member state that pursues an independent domestic and foreign policy."

Biden's top diplomat said Moscow got what it deserved.

"A country that is perpetrating gross and systematic violations of human rights should not sit on a body whose job it is to protect those rights," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Brussels.

Countries voting against included China, a Moscow ally which has steadfastly abstained from criticizing the invasion. Others were Iran, the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan and communist Cuba, as well as Russia itself, Belarus and Syria.

Despite pressure from Moscow for a no vote, several African countries only abstained, such as South Africa and Senegal. Also abstaining were Brazil, Mexico and India.

- 'Held accountable' -
The UN Human Rights Council was founded in 2006 and is composed of 47 member states chosen by the General Assembly.

Washington argues that suspending Russia from the Geneva-based organization that is the UN's main human rights monitor is more than symbolic, and in fact intensifies Russia's isolation after the assault on Ukraine that began February 24.

Zelensky has also called for Russia to be expelled from the UN Security Council "so it cannot block decisions about its own aggression, its own war."

Washington has admitted there is little anyone can do about Russia's position on the Security Council, where it holds veto power.

The world has been outraged by images of civilians apparently executed and left in the streets or buried in mass graves in areas formerly controlled by Russian troops. The carnage has led to new rounds of sanctions against Moscow.

Journalists including from AFP last weekend found corpses in civilian clothes, some with their hands bound, in the town of Bucha outside the capital Kyiv.

The Kremlin has denied Russian forces killed civilians, and alleged that the images of dead bodies in Bucha were "fakes."



Iran, US Hold Hours of Expert Talks in Oman over Tehran’s Rapidly Advancing Nuclear Program

The flags of USA and Iran are displayed in Muscat, Oman, 25 April 2025. EPA/ALI HAIDER
The flags of USA and Iran are displayed in Muscat, Oman, 25 April 2025. EPA/ALI HAIDER
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Iran, US Hold Hours of Expert Talks in Oman over Tehran’s Rapidly Advancing Nuclear Program

The flags of USA and Iran are displayed in Muscat, Oman, 25 April 2025. EPA/ALI HAIDER
The flags of USA and Iran are displayed in Muscat, Oman, 25 April 2025. EPA/ALI HAIDER

Iran and the United States held in-depth negotiations in Oman over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program on Saturday, ending the discussions with a promise for more talks and perhaps another high-level meeting next weekend.

The talks ran for several hours in Muscat, the mountain-wrapped capital of this sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula.

A person close to Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East, acknowledged that the meeting had started and later ended. The source spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks. Iranian state television also reported their conclusion.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state television after the talks that the parties exchanged written points throughout the day in discussions that he described as "very serious and work-focused."

"This time, the negotiations were much more serious than in the past, and we gradually entered into deeper and more detailed discussions," he said. "We have moved somewhat away from broader, general discussions — though it is not the case that all disagreements have been resolved. Differences still exist both on major issues and on the details."

Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who has mediated the two previous round of talks in Muscat and Rome, offered a positive note at the end of Saturday's negotiations.

Iran and the US "identified a shared aspiration to reach agreement based on mutual respect and enduring commitments," al-Busaidi posted on X. "Core principles, objectives and technical concerns were all addressed. Talks will continue next week with a further high-level meeting provisionally scheduled for May 3."

Araghchi arrived Friday in Oman on the eve of the talks and visited the Muscat International Book Fair, surrounded by television cameras and photojournalists. Witkoff was in Moscow on Friday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and arrived on Saturday to Oman.

Decades of tensions

The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the US has imposed on Tehran closing in on a half-century of enmity.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers did limit Tehran's program. However, Trump unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018, setting in motion years of attacks and tensions. The wider Middle East also remains on edge over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Trump, traveling to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, again said that he hoped negotiations would lead to a new nuclear deal. However, he still held out the possibility of a military strike if they didn't.

"The Iran situation is coming out very well," Trump said on Air Force One. "We've had a lot of talks with them and I think we're going to have a deal. I'd much rather have a deal than the other alternative. That would be good for humanity."

He added: "There are some people that want to make a different kind of a deal — a much nastier deal — and I don’t want that to happen to Iran if we can avoid it."

Talks turn to experts  

From the Iranian side, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-e Ravanchi headed up Tehran’s expert team, said Mohammad Golzari, an Iranian government official. Takht-e Ravanchi took part in the 2015 nuclear talks.

The US technical team was led by Michael Anton, the director of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s policy planning staff. Anton doesn't have the nuclear policy experience of those who led Washington’s efforts in the 2015 talks.

Iran has insisted that keeping its enrichment is key. But Witkoff has muddied the issue by first suggesting in a television interview that Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67%, then later saying that all enrichment must stop. The demand that all enrichment stop also has been repeated by Rubio.

However, Iranians remain hopeful that the talks could be successful, as the Iranian rial has rebounded from historic lows during which it took more than 1 million rials to buy $1.

"It’s OK to negotiate, to make the nuclear program smaller or bigger, and reach a deal," Tehran resident Farzin Keivan said. "Of course we shouldn’t give them everything. After all, we’ve suffered a lot for this program."