GENEVA, April 7. /TASS./. The credibility of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and the entire UN human rights system will be completely undermined if the General Assembly adopts a US-initiated resolution aimed at suspending Russia's membership in the Council. Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Office and other International Organizations in Geneva Gennady Gatilov made this statement talking to TASS on Wednesday.
"If the resolution is adopted, the Westerners will be able to freely impose on the rest of the countries the concepts and their vision of human rights that please them and their Western accomplices," the head of the Russian diplomatic mission noted.
"The suspension of Russia's rights as a member of the Human Rights Council will discredit the principle of the Council's universality, harm its effectiveness, and completely undermine trust not only in the Human Rights Council, but in the entire UN human rights system," Gatilov stressed.
He recalled that in the Council Russia opposed the attempts of the European Union and the United States to use human rights to interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states.
"It was our country that throughout the years of the existence of the Human Rights Council resisted attempts by the EU and the United States to use human rights to interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states," the diplomat said. He added that such attempts were often aimed at "destabilizing the internal situation and changing the legitimate government."
Russia has always consistently opposed "politicized and one-sided" HRC resolutions concerning the situation in countries, put them to a vote and voted against them, the diplomat stressed.
"Russia's priority in terms of promotion and protection of human rights remains the strengthening of constructive international dialogue and interaction both in the Human Rights Council and in the UN human rights system as a whole," Gatilov concluded.
The diplomat drew attention to the pressure the United States put on the states that are not ready to support the resolution initiated by Washington.
"It is clear that in order to push their idea through the UN General Assembly, the Americans are making frantic efforts to twist the arms of those countries that have doubts and are not ready to go for it," the diplomat noted.
"In any case, let's see what decision will be made in New York tomorrow. After that, we will decide on our further steps and approaches, including with regard to the HRC," Gatilov summed up.
On April 7, the UN General Assembly resumes a special session on Ukraine. At this meeting the United States and a number of Western countries will submit a resolution on suspending Russia's membership in the UN Human Rights Council.
The Human Rights Council is an intergovernmental organization of the UN system. It was created in 2006, replacing the Commission on Human Rights. The HRC includes 47 states. Each member-state is elected for three years by the General Assembly by a majority vote by direct secret ballot.