There were 93 votes in favor and 24 against. By an apparently convincing majority, the United Nations General Assembly decided on Thursday that Russia will no longer be tolerated as a member of the UN Human Rights Council. It was a robust response from ‘the international community’ to Russia’s actions in Ukraine, where the crimes in Butya had come to light a few days earlier. Indeed, a country whose armed forces execute civilians tied behind their backs and rape women in front of their families has no business in the body that is supposed to promote and protect human rights on behalf of that international community.
However, a closer look at the results shows that the international community is less united than many Western governments would like. The dissenting voice of countries like China and Iran, both led by authoritarian regimes accused of human rights violations like Russia, is perhaps not surprising. That of Mali, the Central African Republic and Syria is also easily explained: their leaders benefit from Russian support in their internal conflicts, provided by the Russian air force or the Wagner mercenary army.
But the sheer number of abstentions (58) and countries avoiding the vote altogether by not coming to the meeting is confrontational. A total of 100 countries have not voted in favor of the measure.
Now that superpower Russia has chosen to challenge the West in Ukraine, other countries are being forced to show their colors: for or against Putin’s invasion, for or against sanctions, for or against arms transfers, et cetera. Finland and Sweden thought it wise not to join NATO for many years, but are now considering joining soon after all. The world may have been made up of countless shades of color, but it now falls apart into black, white and medium grey.
The group in the middle includes large countries like India, Indonesia and South Africa: perhaps not perfect, but functioning democracies that may initially be expected to rally behind ‘the good cause’. However, since the Cold War they belong to the group of Non-Aligned countries: states that did not want to choose between East and West, in an attempt not to become a plaything in the struggle between the great powers. Out of principle – the decolonization of many countries was still fresh at the time and the new independence was the greatest asset – and often also out of economic necessity.
Even now, major interests play a role in neutral countries. India, for example, does not want Russian arms supplies, including those of the missile system S400 endanger† The country also manages to get hold of Russian oil at a hefty discount, which is subject to an American embargo.
Western countries are willing to cut their own prosperity and in this way hopefully call Russia to order – also up to a certain limit, the discussion about a European gas embargo shows. For a country like India, which still has about 190 million undernourished inhabitants, this is much less obvious.
It may be painful to see that not the whole world is going to stand behind Ukraine and unite against Russia in every way possible, but it is a reality to face.
A version of this article also appeared in NRC in the morning of April 13, 2022
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