Russia has today been removed from the UN Human Rights Council (United Nations), expanding the Kremlin’s isolation on the international stage unprecedentedly and deepening its pariah status. An unprecedented resolution against a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and no such gesture was made even during the Cold War.

But Jair Bolsonaro’s government did not support the removal of Vladimir Putin from his country’s main international human rights organization.

In a vote at the UN General Assembly on Thursday, 93 countries backed the Kremlin’s proposal by Western countries, which recommended removing one of the entity’s main bodies from its resolutions. In South America, the governments of Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador supported abolition.

Only 24 countries voted against the project, including Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Syria, Iran, Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela.

The bloc of dictatorships, in addition to condemning the Western powers, recalled the violations committed by the United States in different parts of the world and the threat that the measure could lead to the survival of international organizations. The Cuban government, for example, warned that if it were Russia today, there would be other developing countries tomorrow that could be excluded because they “did not accept” the policies of the Western powers. For the Chinese government, the suspension will “fill the fire” and will not help bring peace.

Brazil wants an investigation first

As the pillar expected, Brazil chose to abstain, reinforcing its distance from Western powers. In total, 58 countries abstained, including Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Egypt and multiple African governments.

In announcing the game, the Brazilian government insisted that it was not the time to suspend Russia. Ambassador Ronaldo Costa Filho said the government of Jair Bolsonaro is “deeply concerned about human rights violations in Ukraine, including in the city of Bucha”.

He also stressed that “images of extreme violence” and signs of torture among the dead were alarming. However, he avoided blaming Russia and did not even mention the name of the country that occupied Ukraine in his speech.

However, according to Itamaraty, the Human Rights Council created an investigative commission in March to evaluate crimes committed in Ukraine and asked all countries involved in the conflict to cooperate in investigations.

“Brazil has decided to abstain because it believes the commission must complete its investigation so that responsibilities can be determined,” he said. According to him, it is concluded that only the General Assembly should consider a possible suspension of those responsible.

However, the investigation process is still in its infancy and it may take months for a result to emerge.

Even so, the Brazilian government insists that the international community cannot make the “mistakes of the past” at a time when human rights debates are politicized and double standards are adopted in the fight against crime.

For Brazil, “the greatest tool is dialogue”. “There is no alternative but negotiation,” the Brazilian ambassador argued.

Hours later, in a press release, Itamaraty further said, “Brazil has decided to refrain from voting as it understands that the initiative would imply the polarization and politicization of the Human Rights Council’s debate.” It may also cause the relevant actors to withdraw and complicate the dialogue for peace,” he said.

“For the Council to fulfill its mission to address human rights abuses with the expected universality and impartiality in all countries, Brazil considers it important to maintain spaces for dialogue through responses that support the participation of parties to advocate for the protection of human rights and peace,” he said.

Brazil, which voted together with the Americans and Europeans for three resolutions condemning Russia’s attacks on Ukraine, has begun to adopt a new stance in international organizations in recent weeks.

Closer to the position of China, India and South Africa, Itamaraty did not approve of Western powers’ projects to isolate Russia in institutions such as the ILO, UNESCO and others. BRICS also insists that the Joe Biden administration’s idea of ​​removing Russia from the G20 will not be supported by the bloc of major emerging economies.

This week, the Brazilian government did not adopt the same tone as the United States and Europe at the UN Security Council, which accused Russia of war crimes. For Brazil, investigations into possible massacres in Ukraine should be conducted without “prejudice”.

The effort of Western powers to remove Russia from the Human Rights Council is actually a rare process within the UN. To date, only Muanmar Gaddafi’s Libya has been subject to a similar suspension.

For Russia to suffer the same fate, the Western powers had to collect two-thirds of the valid UN votes.

In the case of Brazil, Itamaraty voted alongside the 141 countries that chose to condemn Russia a month ago. This time, however, deportation is seen as a dangerous stance, even in terms of a possible weakening of the multilateral system.

In the draft, the governments of the EU, the United States, Canada, Japan, Colombia, the United Kingdom, Liberia, Costa Rica, and other governments justified the suspension action on the grounds of serious violations and violations of human rights and humanitarian law. Russia.

The initiative has also been supported by a number of NGOs, including Brazilian Conectas Human Rights. Two weeks ago, the organization, along with other NGOs, called on governments to consider suspending Moscow from the Human Rights Council.

Despite the Western offensive, members within the UN warn that the initiative will be questioned by other countries, such as China and the United States, who will claim their governments are occupying foreign territory without being removed from international bodies.

Ukraine condemns governments that chose to abstain

Ukrainians criticized countries that still abstained. Citing Israeli writer Elie Wiesel, Kiev’s ambassador to the UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya, warned of the “dangers of indifference”.

“Indifference is not an answer, not a beginning. It is an end. And it is always the friend of the enemy, because it is for the benefit of the aggressor and never to the victim, whose suffering is increased when forgotten,” he said. Quote from Wiesel. According to him, whoever votes against suspension “pulls the trigger” against the victims.

For Kyiv, war crimes were committed by Russia, and he warned that keeping Moscow in the Council would “sink” the institution. “We should call it the Titanic, not the Human Rights Council,” warned Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN.

While acknowledging the suspension was “rare and extraordinary”, the diplomat insisted that such a measure was an obligation under party rules, which stipulated that parties could suspend a member “in case of serious violations”.

By suspending Russia, the Ukrainian government believes the goal is to “maintain the credibility” of the asset.

Moscow objected to this, accusing the US government of “trying to destroy the human rights architecture”. According to Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, this move is “an attempt by the United States to maintain full control and promote neocolonialism”.

He stressed that the suspension of a member set a “dangerous precedent” and that the West’s strategy had failed to resolve crises and only fueled conflict.