New York, November 14 – An international mechanism will be established to hold Russia accountable for the war in Ukraine and for it to pay for damages, loss and injury in that country, the U.N. General Assembly said in a resolution after 94 countries voted for and 14 voted against. A total of 73 countries abstained.
The resolution said Russia violated the U.N. Charter, international human rights and humanitarian law by militarily invading Ukraine on February 24 this year.
Russia “must bear the legal consequences of all its internationally wrongful acts, including making reparation for the injury, including any damage, caused by such acts,” the resolution said.
Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told the 193-nation assembly that “Russia has tried its best to destroy Ukraine … by targeting everything from plants and factories to residential buildings, schools, hospitals and kindergartens.”
“Ukraine will have the daunting task of rebuilding the country and recovering from this war,” he said. “But that recovery will never be complete without a sense of justice for the victims of the Russian war. It is time to hold Russia accountable,” he said.
The resolution just adopted was the fifth one this year against Russia. The fourth resolution on October 12 passed with a 143-5 vote to demand that Russia “immediately and unconditionally” reverse its decision to annex four regions in Ukraine – Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia – on September 29. Russia, Syria, North Korea, Nicaragua and Belarus voted against.
The fourth resolution declares that the annexation has “no validity under international law and do not form the basis for any alteration of the status of these regions of Ukraine.”
The resolution condemns Russia for holding on September 23-27 “illegal so-called referendums in regions within the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine and the attempted illegal annexation of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine.”
It calls on “all states, international organizations and United Nations specialized agencies not to recognize any alteration” by Russia of the status of the four regions and “to refrain from any action or dealing that might be interpreted as recognizing any such altered status.”
In the previous three votes in the assembly a majority of the 193 member states supported the resolution condemning the war. The vote taken on March 2 just days after fighting erupted a total of 141 countries voted to condemn while Russia, Belarus, Syria, North Korea and Eritrea voted against. A total of 35 countries abstained.
The adopted resolution on March 2 condemned “in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine” in violation of the U.N Charter and demanded that Russia withdraw immediately and cease all acts of war.
In the second and third votes, the number of countries supporting ending the war dropped while countries that abstained increased.
(By J. Tuyet Nguyen)
United Nations correspondent journalists – United Nations correspondent journalists – United Nations correspondent journalists – United Nations journalism articles – United Nations journalism articles – United Nations journalism articles – United Nations News – United Nations News – United Nations New