Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 15th Nov. World body on Monday adopted a resolution has called for Russia to pay war reparations to Ukraine, during the emergency special session on the conflict.
The resolution was co-sponsored by 50 countries on establishing an international mechanism for compensation for damage, loss and injury, as well as a register to document evidence and claims, it said.
It got 94 votes in favour, 14 against, and 73 abstained.
Member States voted in the morning session and gave the explanation of vote during the afternoon session.
Ukraine Ambassador to the UN Sergiy Kyslytsya presented the resolution to vote used the biblical adage that “there is nothing new under the sun” as a motif throughout his remarks.
He insisted that Russia must be held accountable for its violations of international law.
“Seventy-seven years ago, the Soviet Union demanded and received reparations, calling it a moral right of a country that has suffered war and occupation,” he said.
Mr. Kyslytsya said “Today, Russia, who claims to be the successor of the 20th century’s tyranny, is doing everything it can to avoid paying the price for its own war and occupation, trying to escape accountability for the crimes it is committing.”
He pointed out that Russia also supported the creation of the UN Compensation Commission established in 1991 after Iraq’s invasion and occupation of Kuwait.
Ukrainian envoy reported that the Commission completed its mandate in February, having paid out over $52 billion in reparations to victims.
He outlined the impact of the Russian war on his country, including bombings targeting residential buildings and infrastructure, the demolition of nearly half of the power grid and utilities, massive displacement, and atrocities such as murder, rape, torture and forced deportations.
“This proposal is not about Russia alone. It will work for the benefit of all those who are being threatened now or might be threatened later by use of force,” he said.
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya criticized the draft resolution before voting characterized the draft resolution as “a classic example” of a narrow group of States acting not on the basis of international law, but rather trying to consecrate something that is illegal.
He said countries backing the resolution were attempting to position the General Assembly as a judicial body, which it is not.
“These countries boast about how committed they are to the rule of law, but at the same time, they are flouting its very semblance,” he added.
Mr. Nebenzya said the proposed reparations mechanism will be created by a group of countries that will decide how it functions.
“The UN will play no role in this process because the proposed mechanism is suggested to be created outside of the UN, and no one has any plans to account to the General Assembly for its activity,” he continued.
He had “no doubt” that the funding will come from frozen Russian assets, which total billions.
Mr. Nebenzya said that western countries have long wanted to unfreeze these assets, not to return them to their owner, or to spend them on helping Ukraine, “but rather so as to fund their own constantly growing weapons supplies to Kyiv, and covering the debts for the weapons already supplied.”
GA emergency special session began on 28 February after the invasion of Ukraine.
This was the 11th time such a meeting has been held since 1950, in line with a resolution widely known as ‘Uniting for Peace’.
The resolution 377A(V) gives the General Assembly power to take up matters of international peace and security when the Security Council is unable to act due to unanimity among its five permanent members – China, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and Russia who can use veto power.
The current special session was convened after the Council voted in favour of the General Assembly meeting after Russia’s veto of a resolution that would have deplored the assault on Ukraine.
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