Ghana was part of 58 countries that exempted itself from voting at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in order to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday April 7, 2022.
This comes after a United States-initiated resolution that expressed “grave concern at the ongoing human rights and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine”.
With that, 93 voted in favour whiles 24 voted against, 58 member states however distanced itself from the process.
Meanwhile, after the vote, Russia announced it was quitting the UN Council.
The resolution came after the discovery of dead civilian bodies in the town of Bucha near Kyiv.
Prior to the vote, Ukrainian ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya urged countries to support the resolution.
“Bucha and dozens of other Ukrainian cities and villages, where thousands of peaceful residents have been killed, tortured, raped, abducted and robbed by the Russian army, serve as an example of how dramatically far the Russian Federation has gone from its initial declarations in the human rights domain. That is why this case is unique and today’s response is obvious and self-explanatory”, he said.
That resolution strongly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and called on Moscow to withdraw its troops immediately and provide safe access for humanitarian relief work.
Eleven member countries voted in favour of that resolution. China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstained. Russia, which has veto power as one of five permanent members of the council, voted against it.