South Africa must salvage its compromised moral authority by supporting Russia’s expulsion from the UN Human Rights Council

7 April 2022

Note to Editors: Please find attached a soundbite from the Leader of the Democratic Alliance John Steenhuisen MP.

Members of the United Nations General Assembly will today vote on a draft resolution on whether to expel Russia from the UN Human Rights Council in the wake of its war crimes in Ukraine. South Africa can no longer maintain its tacit support for Russia under the guise of “neutrality” and must support this resolution.

The DA calls on the South African government, through its permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Jerry Matthews Matjila, to abandon its immoral pro-Kremlin stance and choose to stand with the people of Ukraine who have been under siege from President Vladimir Putin’s aggression for the past six weeks.

Since Putin rolled his tanks into Ukraine, Ramaphosa’s ANC government has reduced South Africa to an international pariah through its refusal to condemn the invasion and demand the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory. Today’s vote in the General Assembly is an opportunity to correct this shameful foreign policy decision and stand on the right side of history by voting Russia off the UN Human Rights Council.

There is irrefutable evidence that Putin has committed war crimes in Ukraine and should be held accountable for his actions. Videos of mass graves and dead bodies of civilians on the streets of the Ukrainian town of Bucha have been covered widely by international media. It will be a grave moral mistake for South Africa to ignore this evidence and vote against the expulsion of Russia from the HRC.

To be clear, choosing to abstain from this vote will be a tacit approval of Putin’s war crimes in Ukraine. The world will be watching to see if South Africa will nail its colours to the mast as an international pariah, or if it will find its moral conviction to defend the Ukrainian men, women and children who are being butchered daily by the Russian army.

The ANC government should listen to former President Kgalema Motlanthe, who has clearly said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should be condemned. Pursuing a “see no evil, hear no evil’” approach as a foreign policy doctrine, in the face of Putin’s criminal behaviour in Ukraine, is reckless and a betrayal of our constitutional obligations to safeguard human rights at home and abroad.

South Africa must stand together with the rest of the world in condemnation of Putin’s war crimes in Ukraine and vote in support of UN General Assembly draft resolution A/ES-11/L.4 which seeks to expel Russia from the Human Rights Council.

Issued by John Steenhuisen, Leader of the Democratic Alliance, 7 April 2022