Taking a step forward to discuss the ongoing Syrian crisis, Russia being one of the largest supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday blocked a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the human rights situation in Syria, Reuters reports.
Russian Representative to the UN, Gennady Kuzmin said: “We do not see any justification for this meeting since human rights is not a subject on the agenda of the security council.”
Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human rights was expected to speak at the meeting which was called by France and six other nations.
“Our council needs to have all necessary information to understand the crisis that it is examining, including those pertaining to human rights. And this is particularly the case in Syria,” said French UN ambassador Francois Delattre.
Whilst Russia, China, Bolivia and Kazakhstan voted against holding the meeting, Russia’s representative Kuzmin asked for a procedural vote count which would decide about holding the meeting.
France along with United Kingdom, Sweden, Poland, Holland, the United States, Peru and Kuwait voted in favour of holding the meeting, one delegation short of the number required to hold the meeting.
Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea and Ethiopia abstained from voting Middle East Monitor reported.