Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg
Singapore has chosen to abstain from voting in a resolution in the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Thursday (Apr. 7) that called for Russia to be suspended from the Human Rights Council (HRC), an inter-governmental body in the UN that oversees the protection of human rights.
Rare move by United Nations
Singapore was among the 58 countries that abstained from voting.
Other Southeast Asian countries that abstained included Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia.
Myanmar, represented by Kyaw Moe Tun, the Myanmar Ambassador for the UN, who is loyal to the ousted National League for Democracy, and the Philippines, on the other hand, voted for the resolution.
The resolution passed in the end with a two-thirds majority out of those who voted -- 93 member states had voted in favour, while 24 voted against.
Countries that voted against the resolution included Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Syria and Vietnam.
Following Russia's suspension from the HRC, Russia's deputy UN Ambassador Gennady Kuzmin announced that Russia is quitting the 47-member body altogether, Reuters reported.
To that, Ukraine's UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said, "You do not submit your resignation after you are fired."
The last time the UN General Assembly had backed such a move was in 2011 when Libya was suspended from the HRC after its government's violent repression of a popular protest movement.
Why did Singapore abstain?
Singapore was among the 141 countries that previously voted for a resolution that called for Russia to stop its war on Ukraine.
It had also imposed export controls on items to Russia that can be directly used as weapons to inflict harm on the Ukrainians, and condemned Russia's act of war on Ukraine multiple times.
The city-state's decision has come as a surprise to some, and sparked a discussion online.
Visiting research fellow at the National University of Singapore, Jonah Blank, has offered an explanation as to the voting behaviour for the Southeast Asian countries that abstained from the vote.
He opined that countries that abstained from the vote were not viewing it from the lens of power rivalry between Russia and the U.S. as discussions have indicated -- the resolution was described by The New York Times as a U.S.-led effort aimed to punish Russia diplomatically for its actions.
Instead, he highlighted that most of the countries that abstained or voted "no" had previously voted to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This included Singapore.
He further said this could be seen as setting a precedent for future votes regarding human rights, suggesting that these countries might hold different positions towards alleged human rights violations by other foreign governments.
While Singapore is not a member of the HRC, it is "firmly committed to creating a new process of dialogue and cooperation" in the body that's based on "respect and tolerance for differences and diversity", according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Bucha massacre
Hundreds of civilians had reportedly been killed in Bucha, Ukraine, after Russian forces occupied the town.
Images of dead bodies with their hands tied and gunshot wounds to the head have emerged, with journalists from major networks like AP witnessing the dead bodies on the streets.
In line with their information warfare strategy of denying any wrongdoing and casting atrocities as being committed by Ukrainians instead, Russia has called the accusation a hoax and denied claims that their troops were responsible for the killings, AP reported.
Instead, they claimed that the bodies were placed there after they had withdrawn from the town.
These claims were repeated by Kremlin-backed news outlets like RT, as well as social media accounts, in several languages including English.
Satellite images of Bucha, however, had shown black objects the size of human bodies strewn on the streets for days while Russian forces were in control of the town, as well as what appeared to be a mass grave on the grounds of a church.
U.S. President Joe Biden has condemned Russia's actions in Bucha as "major war crimes", and called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "war criminal".
Biden has avoided calling the killings a genocide, however, despite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky using the term.
Follow and listen to our podcast here
Top image via United Nations