From war crimes to international security concerns, The Russian invasion of Ukraine kicked off Monday’s debates at the UN Human Rights Council and the Conference on Disarmament.

Following the adoption by the UN General Assembly last week of a resolution demanding the “immediate” withdrawal of Russian troops, the UN and Kiev’s allies launched a new round of criticism of Moscow on Monday.

“Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to the most massive violation of human rights known todayUN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the opening of the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council (HRC), which should last nearly six weeks, in Geneva.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, denounced the return of the “old authoritarianism” and the “destructive wars of aggression, from a bygone era, with global consequencesreferring to “Russia’s absurd invasion of Ukraine”.

In addition to the Russian occupation of Ukraine, the situation in Iran, Syria, Nicaragua, Haiti and Ethiopia will take up much of the session.

At the Conference on Disarmament, which also began Monday at UN headquarters in Geneva, Britain’s Secretary of State for Europe, Leo Docherty, read a statement on behalf of more than 30 countries, pointing out that the Russian invasion “It is not just a threat for Ukraine, but also for international peace and security.”

“Russia is damaging our collective security architecture and is questioning our global order based on the rules of law,” French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna stressed.

Bonnie Jenkins, US Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control For his part, he denounced Russia’s decision to suspend its participation in the Nuevo Start nuclear disarmament treaty.

“Russia is once again showing the world that it is not a responsible nuclear power,” he said.

war crimes

US chief of diplomacy Antony Blinken will speak via video conference on Thursday. And Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov will travel to Geneva in the coming days.

Despite the NGO’s calls, it is not certain that diplomats will leave the room when the Russian official is speakingas they did last year when the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, participated via video conference.

At the end of the debates in early April, the 47 member states of the CHR will have to decide on the monitoring of the work of their researchers in Ukraine. They will soon present their first report, after they reported possible war crimes in September.

At a meeting in support of Ukraine on the sidelines of the Council, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba denounced Russia’s extortions in a video conference.

“The most terrifying crime is child theft. We’re talking about thousands of themhe declared. Kuleba accused Moscow of committing a “crime of genocide” and reiterated Ukraine’s desire to establish a special court to try Russian crimes.

Ukrainian Ambassador Yevheniia Filipenko He called for a “strengthening” of the resolution so that the investigators’ mandate is defined. But it is not guaranteed that the final text will reflect the will of Kiev, due to the possible blockade by other countries.

“We will have to be very dynamic and very active so that other countries’ resolutions are adopted and prevent a China-Russia-Iran-Venezuela-Cuba axis from building a wall against resolutionsa European diplomat told AFP.

In Iran, the mandate of the country’s rapporteur is at stake following the repression of demonstrations following the death in detention of young Mahsa Amini.

“The priority is that the mandate is extended. But the second priority is that the text reflects the terrible deterioration of the situation that has occurred in recent months,” said a Western diplomat.