A bipartisan group of senators is pushing for Russia’s removal from the U.N. Human Rights Council for war crimes.
GOP Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah as well as Republican Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho and Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the latter two being the ranking member and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, respectively, wrote a letter to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield asking her to introduce a resolution at the U.N. to remove Russia from the body’s Human Rights Council.
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In their letter, the senators said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine should prompt the country’s removal.
“We have seen the indiscriminate shelling of apartment buildings, hospitals, and schools and the slaughter of fleeing civilians,” the letter stated. “The multitude of crimes committed by the Russian Federation, and by Vladimir Putin himself, demonstrates that the Russian government has no intention of upholding international human rights.”
The letter said “it is time we consider whether the Russian Federation deserves to reap benefits from an organization whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world.”
The membership rules of the council, the letter said, say that “states engaging in a pattern of gross and systemic abuses can be removed by a two-thirds vote of the UN General Assembly.”
“We implore you to introduce a resolution in the UN General Assembly to call for the removal of the Russian Federation from the UNHRC immediately,” the letter said.
The letter was also signed by several other senators in both parties who serve on the Foreign Relations Committee: Democratic Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Chris Coons of Delaware, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, along with Republican Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio and Marco Rubio of Florida.
Romney wrote in a tweet that the “multitude of abhorrent crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine clearly demonstrate that Putin has no intention of upholding international human rights standards” and should therefore be removed from the council.
The multitude of abhorrent crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine clearly demonstrate that Putin has no intention of upholding international human rights standards. Russia must immediately be removed from the @UN Human Rights Council. https://t.co/eAc8ZEICoY
— Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) March 29, 2022
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Nikki Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., wrote on Twitter that she is “glad to see Congress united in calling for Russia to be kicked off the UNHRC.”
Glad to see Congress united in calling for Russia to be kicked off the UNHRC. They should never have been allowed on in the first place.https://t.co/JVhV2pRHfD
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) March 29, 2022
“They should never have been allowed on in the first place,” wrote Haley, who is seen as a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2024.
