On Wednesday, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) vigorously voted to rebuke Moscow for all-out Ukraine invasion and commanded that Russia halt fighting and pull out its troops, a move that intends to diplomatically isolate Kremlin at the world body.
One hundred and forty-one U.N. member countries supported a U.N. resolution, which was adopted on March 2 at an infrequent emergency session of the world body, while only five countries, including North Korea, Belarus, Eritrea, Syria, and of course Russian Federation, voted against the resolution. However, South Africa, India, and PRC were among the thirty-five nations that abstained. According to the U.N. website, the last time the emergency session of the United Nations General Assembly convened was in 1982.
The UN resolution demanding Moscow immediately pull-out its military personnel from Ukraine, was overwhelmingly supported by 141 members of UN. 35 nations abstained while 5 countries including Russia, N. Korea, Belarus, Eritrea, and Syria voted against it.#Russia #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/ZzdWY5HNT2
— Live News Now (@LiveNewsNow6) March 3, 2022
The U.N. resolution passed in a U.N. Security Council-called emergency session while Ukrainian military and security forces fought to defend the strategic port of Kherson in the face of air attacks and an overwhelming bombing that compelled thousands of people to leave the country. Moreover, the U.N. resolution expresses strong disapproval of Moscow’s hostility against its neighbor and condemns Vladimir Putin’s pronouncement to place its nuclear forces on alert.
While the UNGA resolutions are non-binding, they carry political weight, with the 2nd March’s vote representing a symbolic success for the post-Soviet country and growing Russia’s international isolation. Even Serbia, the traditional ally of Russia, both are predominantly Slavic and Eastern Orthodox nations, didn’t support it.
‘it is genocide’ – Ukraine’s UN Envoy
Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the U.N., said the ‘message of UNGA was loud and clear.’ He asked to stop aggression, silence the guns immediately, and open the door to talks and diplomacy in Ukraine. Nearly every speaker in the main policy-making organ of the U.N. utterly condemned the war crimes.
Furthermore, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. envoy for the United Nations, said that if the United Nations – the world’s only universal global organization – has any purpose, it’s to avoid war. Thomas-Greenfield noted that Moscow was planning the cruelty of its campaign and was sending exceptionally lethal weaponry into the East European country, including thermobaric weapons and cluster munitions.
Source: Web
Sergiy Olehovych Kyslytsya, a permanent Representative of Ukraine to the U.N., called the U.N. resolution essentials to build a wall to prevent the Russian aggression, and urged nations to vote in favor of the resolution. Ukraine’s UN envoy told UNGA before the vote that Kremlin has come to deprive its neighboring country of the very right to exist. It is already apparent that Moscow’s aim isn’t an occupation only; it’s genocide.
United States’ U.N. envoy also urged members of the intergovernmental organization to hold Russia accountable for its violations of international law. In addition, she referred to videos of Russian military forward-moving heavy arms into the former Soviet republic, including thermobaric weapons, banned under the law of nations. That is an unexpected moment.
