Ukraine’s Civil Society Hub in Brussels launched a campaign initiative yesterday to eject the Russian Federation from the United Nations.
Speakers at the International conference included Vsevolod Chentsov, Head of the Mission of Ukraine to the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, Volodymyr Yelchenko Ambassador-at-large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Maksym Baryshnikov, Lawyer and co-founder of the law firm “BKB” and Serhii Dvornyk the Counsellor and Political Coordinator of the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations.
The event was hosted by two NGOs, The WorldUA and the Initiative Group #unrussiaUN, who have called on people to support the initiative by following the link and signing the “Kick Russia out of UN” petition on change.org, which has been signed by more than 350,000 people around the world: https://www.change.org/p/kick-russia-out-of-the-un
My favourite comedian Groucho Marx once quipped that he would never join a club that would have him as a member. But when the boot is on the other foot, and an organisation wants to eject a member who flouts its charter and violates the principles of peace and security that it stands for, where do you begin?
The Conference explored unusual and innovative legal approaches to Security Council Reform and how to legally expel the Russian Federation from the UN. This will no doubt be a rich seam of controversy that will line the pockets of lawyers for a long time. But now the process has started, people will be forced to confront the elephant in the room and recognise that it is a travesty for the UN to allow a country guilty of unprovoked aggression against its neighbours, and whose leader has been cited for crimes against humanity, to play any part in promoting the main tenets of the organisation, namely world peace and security.
