UPDATE - UN Human Rights Council To Announce Special Rapporteur On Russia In March

GENEVA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th October, 2022) The head of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will announce the special rapporteur to investigate the human rights situation in Russia in late March, spokesman Rolando Gomez told Ria Novosti on Friday.

According to Gomez, after declaring a vacancy for the post of special rapporteur, the HRC advisory group will interview suitable candidates and then recommend them to the UNHRC president. After that, the president will announce their appointment to the post, which must be approved by council members at the end of the next session scheduled for late March.

Earlier in the day, UNHRC members approved the appointment of a special rapporteur on Russia for a period of one year at the request of Western countries.

Russian Permanent Representative in the UN Office in Geneva Gennady Gatilov, in turn, said that the decision on the new rapporteur was politicized and accused UNHRC of acting as a tool of Western countries to promote their policy and exert pressure on "undesirable regimes and governments.

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"This (appointment of the special rapporteur on Russia) is a politicized decision, it is clear for us that its main goal is to create a rapporteur mechanism so as to entrench the issue of Russia in the agenda of the UNHRC and have an opportunity to critically raise this topic through the prism of respect for human rights," Gatilov said.

The Russian diplomat also noted that Russia would have "no constructive cooperation with a rapporteur," saying the UN human rights body has lost its legitimacy.

"UNHRC is in general subjugated by the Western countries, it executes their political agenda, and the work of UNHRC is far distant from real concerns about human rights. There is more and more understanding of futility of UNHRC from our discussions with colleagues," Gatilov said.