OPINION BY: Stefanie Daubert
You need to ask yourselves, what has the United Nations done to help with the war in Ukraine? After you think about that, then you must ask yourselves why is Russia still a part of the United Nations Human Rights Council and the UN Security Council?
The answer to the first question is that the UN has done nothing regarding the war between Ukraine and Russia. On April 5th, President Zelensky of Ukraine gave a speech at the UN Security Council. His main statement was to do something about Russia, or “dissolve itself.”
Zelensky “urged representatives not to let permanent member Russia continue to go unpunished for what he described as ‘the most terrible war crimes’ since WWII.”
The remarks came a day after Zelensky got a look at all the dead bodies by satellite images, and by others who took photos, of people that were executed by Russian forces for no reason, many having their hands tied behind their backs. These executions included children. Many were thrown in ditches like their lives meant nothing. People were horrified by these pictures by their comments on social media.
After Zelensky spoke, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas Greenfield had the opportunity to make some comments. One of her first comments was, “Once we saw the pictures of those atrocities, it became clear to us that we needed to take, among many, is to get Russia suspended from the Human Rights Council…our intention is to ask for a vote in the General Assembly this week.”
Greenfield also stated, “We are going to keep ramping up the pressure on them until they stop. They can’t continue to do this forever”
Journalist Judy Woodruff, who was interviewing Greenfield, asked many probing questions. She brought up Russia having a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. Greenfield stated that” That, we cannot change.”
If the UN does nothing about Russia and allows them to continue to be on the Security and Human Rights Councils, then what is the point of the UN altogether? Almost every member there commented on the horrible atrocities they saw in the pictures, but since Russia still has the support of China, every sanction that the UN has put forward has had no effect on what Russia has done, or to deter them in any way. The Ruble has bounced back, due to Russia being able to sell oil to other countries, and that transaction must be done using the Ruble.
Sources:
PBS News Hour. Article “U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas Greenfield on the Atrocities Uncovered in Ukraine.” April 5, 2022
Watch the entire interview on PBS at https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/april-5-2022-pbs-newshour-full-episode
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