The UN General Assembly on Monday adopted a resolution that calls for Russia to pay war reparations to Ukraine, as Ambassadors met to resume their emergency special session devoted to the conflict.
Nearly 50 nations co-sponsored the resolution on establishing an international mechanism for compensation for damage, loss and injury, as well as a register to document evidence and claims.
The General Assembly is the UN’s most representative body, comprising all 193 Member States.
Ninety-four countries voted in favour of the resolution, and 14 against, while 73 abstained.
The vote took place in the morning, and countries returned in the afternoon to explain their decisions.
In presenting the resolution, Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Nations, Sergiy Kyslytsya 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.
“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.”
Mr. Kyslytsya pointed out that Russia also supported the creation of the UN Compensation Commission (UNCC), established in 1991 following Iraq’s invasion and occupation of Kuwait.
The Commission completed its mandate in February, he reported, having paid out over $52 billion in reparations to victims.
The Ambassador 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.
Russia Criticizes Draft
Speaking before the vote, Russian Ambassador to UN, Vasily Nebenzya 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, speaking in Russian.
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.
Furthermore, he had “no doubt” that the funding will come from frozen Russian assets, which total billions.
Western countries have long wanted to unfreeze these assets, he said, 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.”
The Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022 on orders of President Vladimir Putin in what he termed as a “Special Military Operation.”
Russia launched a full scale war as its forces attacked Ukraine on land, air and sea.
According to Western Intelligence, President Putin’s goal was to overthrow the Government in Kyiv in just four days.
However, the Ukrainian population unanimously rallied behind their President and army in the war against the world’s second powerful military.
The war created a refugee crisis in Eastern Europe as many Ukrainians fled to neighboring Poland and other NATO countries.
The Western countries and the NATO alliance began to supply Ukraine with weapons to resist the invading Russian forces.
After nearly 9 months of fighting, the Ukrainian Army has managed to retake the large swathes of land that Russia had captured in the early days of the war.
Four days ago, the Russian forces retreated from the Ukrainian city of Kherson due to heavy bombardment of the advancing Ukrainian forces.
Kherson is the only major city that Russia had captured.
However, Russia still holds about 70% of Eastern Ukraine.
President Volodymr Zelenskyy has promised Ukrainians that his country will never give it out any inch of their land, and vowed to liberate Eastern Ukraine particularly the Donbas region.
About the Emergency UN Special Sessions
The UN General Assembly Emergency Special Sessions began on February 28, 2022, just four days after the start of the war in Ukraine.
The meeting on Monday marks only the 11th time such a meeting has been held since 1950, in line with a resolution widely known as ‘Uniting for Peace’.
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 have the power of veto.
The current special session was convened after the Council voted in favour of the General Assembly meeting following Russia’s veto of a resolution that would have deplored the assault on Ukraine.