Russia is
seeking to rejoin the United Nations human rights council in an election that
will be seen as a key test of its international standing.
It was expelled
from the UN's pre-eminent human rights body last April after its forces invaded
Ukraine.
But now Russian
diplomats are seeking to get their country re-elected to the council for a
fresh three-year term.
The BBC has
obtained a copy of the position paper Russia is circulating to UN members
asking for their support.
The vote will
take place next month.
In the document
seen by the BBC, Russia promises to find "adequate solutions for human
rights issues" and seeks to stop the council becoming an "instrument
which serves political wills of one group of countries", understood to be
a reference to the West.
Diplomats said
Russia was hoping to regain some international credibility after being accused
of human rights abuses in Ukraine and within its own borders.
The latest
evidence of those abuses was presented to the human rights council on Monday in
a report from its Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine.
Erik Mose, chair
of the commission, said there was continuing evidence of war crimes including
torture, rape and attacks on civilians.
A separate
report two weeks ago by the UN's special rapporteur for Russia, Mariana
Katzarova said the human rights situation in Russia had also
"significantly deteriorated", with critics of the invasion subjected
to arbitrary arrest, torture and ill treatment.
The UN human
rights council is based in Geneva and has 47 members, each elected for a
three-year term.
In the next
elections, due on 10 October, Russia will compete with Albania and Bulgaria for
the two seats on the council reserved for central and eastern European
countries.
The Alley of the Flags at the United Nations HQ in Geneva, where the Human Rights Council meets
The vote will
involve all 193 members of the UN general assembly in New York. Diplomats there
said Russia was campaigning aggressively, offering small countries grain and
arms in return for their votes.
As such, they
said it was entirely possible Russia could get back onto the council.
The Russian
position paper - circulated at the UN - says it wants to "promote
principles of cooperation and strengthening of constructive mutually respectful
dialogue in the council in order to find adequate solutions for human rights
issues".
Its core pitch
is that Russia would use its membership "to prevent the increasing trend
of turning the HRC into an instrument which serves the political will of one
group of countries". It said it does not want that group "punishing
non-loyal governments for their independent and external policy".
Russia was
suspended from the Human Rights Council in April 2022 with 93 members of the UN
general assembly voting in favour, 24 against and 58 abstaining. In its
position paper, Russia blames "the United States and its allies" for
it losing membership.
Russian ambassador Gennady Gatilov at a session of the UN Human Rights Council before Russia was suspended
A report this
month by three campaign groups - UN Watch, the Human Rights Foundation and
the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights - concluded Russia was
"unqualified" for membership of the HRC.
"Re-electing
Russia to the council now, while its war on Ukraine is still ongoing, would be
counterproductive for human rights and would send a message that the UN is not
serious about holding Russia accountable for its crimes in Ukraine," the report
said.
The UK said it
"strongly opposes" Russia's bid to rejoin the Human Rights Council.
A Foreign Office
spokesperson said: "Widespread evidence of Russia's human rights abuses
and violations in Ukraine and against its own citizens, including those
highlighted by the UN's special rapporteur on Russia just last week,
demonstrates Russia's complete contempt for the work of the council."
The shadow
foreign secretary, David Lammy, said Russia had committed atrocities in
Ukraine, its leader had been indicted for war crimes by the International
Criminal Court and had shown utter contempt for the UN Charter.
"The idea
that Russia could return to the Human Rights Council is an affront to the very
concept of human rights and a dangerous backwards step that would damage its
credibility," he said. "The government should work intensively with
countries who have abstained in the past to make the case that the essential
values of the UN must be upheld."
The BBC
approached the Russian mission at the UN for comment.
By James Landale , Diplomatic correspondent
|| BBCNEWS
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