In a rare action, the United Nations General Assembly has voted to suspend Russia’s membership on the organization’s Human Rights Council, paving the way for the body to sanction Russia for atrocities its military is committing in Ukraine, the Associated Press reports.
Russia’s membership on the Council allowed it to block any actions the group could have taken against it, essentially making the Council impotent to punish Russia for the targeted murder of unarmed civilians in Ukraine.
The vote was 93-24 with 58 abstentions, which was significantly lower than votes to condemn Russia aggression in Ukraine in the past. The last time the UN kicked a nation off the Human Rights Council was when it expelled Libya in 2011.