👏 Thanks to @LiechtensteinUN for pushing this important initiative to hold permanent members of UN Security Council accountable for vetoes. It's a step in the right direction.
There's been too much misuse of veto by permanent UNSC members, mostly #Russia & US.
Veto abuse - case 1: #Russia on Feb 26 vetoed UN Security Council resolution demanding that it end its invasion of #Ukraine & withdraw all troops. Under Article 27(3) of UN Charter, Russia, a party to the conflict, should have abstained but did not. 👎news.un.org/en/story/2022/…
Veto abuse - case 2: US has vetoed dozens of resolutions on #Israel & #Palestine. Its most recent was in June 2018.
Recall that @hrw@amnesty@btselem & others have found Israel to be committing crime against humanity of apartheid.
Full list of vetoes by the five permanent UN Security Council members can be found here: un.org/depts/dhl/resg…
(And h/t to @RichardGowan1 for the idea of associating the P5 with "The Usual Suspects" 😅)
Thanks to today's resolution, from now on P5 members who cast a veto in the UN Security Council will have to explain themselves publicly in an open session of the UN General Assembly.
Veto Abuse -- Case 3: #Russia's 16 vetoes on #Syria since 2011 (many with #China joining in) to protect his ally President Assad from scrutiny & accountability for war crimes & likely crimes against humanity (incl. Syria govt's use of chemical weapons). reuters.com/article/us-syr…
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This informal UN Security Council meeting (known in UN parlance as an "Arria formula" meeting) on the importance of accountability for war crimes in #Ukraine will be broadcast live on @UNWebTV here at 3pm EDT Weds 4/27: media.un.org/en/webtv/
.@hrw has had researchers in #Urkaine since #Russia invaded #Ukraine Feb 24. We continue to document abuses & possible war crimes, mostly by Russian forces but also by Ukrainians. See our latest report calling for civilians to be allowed to flee Mariupol. hrw.org/news/2022/04/2…
#Russia has promised "proof" that evidence of Russian atrocities in #Bucha & elsewhere are "fake" and a "staged provocation". This claim by Russia's UN envoy & others has been debunked.
Also see @BBCWorld's excellent fact-checking piece that disproves #Russia's claims that #Bucha atrocities were faked. (Keep in mind that Russia always says these kinds of things are fakes, whether its atrocities in Ukraine or chemical weapons in Syria.) bbc.com/news/60981238
.@DrKathleenPage1: “Precarious #Venezuela health system, hobbled by years of infrastructure decay, shortages in medications and supplies, and severe water shortages, has no capacity to prevent the spread of Covid-19." Tune in at 2pm on @UNWebTV today! hrw.org/news/2020/07/2…