{"id":2319,"date":"2023-09-26T22:29:42","date_gmt":"2023-09-27T02:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/migrationreporting\/?p=2319"},"modified":"2023-09-27T00:00:01","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T04:00:01","slug":"biden-hesitantly-equips-kyiv-while-moscow-runs-for-hrc-seat-amid-torture-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/migrationreporting\/biden-hesitantly-equips-kyiv-while-moscow-runs-for-hrc-seat-amid-torture-allegations\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Hesitantly Equips Kyiv while Moscow Runs for HRC Seat Amid Torture Allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Biden to give long-range ATACMS missiles to Kyiv<\/em><\/p>\n

U.S. President Joe Biden has agreed this weekend to send a \u201csmall number\u201d of long-range missiles known as the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to Kyiv in the coming weeks according to NBC News<\/a> and the Wall Street Journal.<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in Geneva, a U.N. inquiry into human rights has revealed that substantial evidence has been collected to implicate Putin on human rights violation. In less than two weeks, Russia will run for reelection to the U.N. Human Rights Council.<\/p>\n

Although initially hesitant to ship long-range missiles to Kyiv, Biden’s decision comes in response to the U.S.\u2019 \u201crealization that Russia is gaining more ground and aligning itself with other alliances to make its position stronger than before,\u201d according to Princeton Professor Mahiri Mwita.<\/p>\n

The U.S. and NATO have displayed caution in their assistance to Ukraine and in their rhetoric towards Russia throughout the past year and a half of conflict. Many people are concerned that the use of U.S.-made missiles could aggravate Moscow and bring the U.S. closer to direct conflict. Whether Ukraine plans to use these U.S.-supplied missiles to \u201cstrike further within Russia itself\u201d dictates whether this is \u201can escalation that could be dangerous\u201d as opposed to only \u201cus[ing] them in occupied Ukraine,\u201d according Peter Singer, Australian moral philosopher and Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University.<\/p>\n

There is \u201ca danger\u201d without the \u201cassurance that they [long-range missiles] won\u2019t be used inside Russia itself,\u201d says Singer.<\/p>\n

Despite U.S. qualms, Russia has stuck to the narrative that actors in the West have been the true aggravators in the war. In a press conference on Saturday, September 23, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists that the U.S. was directly in conflict with Moscow rather than in a proxy war as others have claimed, reports CNN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can call this a hybrid war, but that doesn\u2019t change the reality,\u201d said Lavrov in CNN.<\/a><\/p>\n

Should it be true that American missiles are killing Russians inside their country, then the idea of direct conflict and war \u201cwould be verified in the eyes of Russians\u201d which \u201ccould lead to dangerous escalation,\u201d says Singer.<\/p>\n

On Monday, September 26, 8 U.S.-made M1 Abrams tanks arrived<\/a> in Kyiv, amid concerns doing so would bring NATO more \u201cdirectly into war.\u201d Two months earlier, the U.S. agreed to send Ukraine cluster-bombs, despite protests from human rights groups concerned about the dangers of undetonated bombs left behind after the end of the war.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Russia \u201ccampaigns aggressively\u201d to rejoin UN Human Rights Council, says BBC<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

On Monday, September 26, a U.N. -mandated investigative body stated it had collected evidence that Russian military in occupied Ukraine has inflicted \u201cwidespread and systematic\u201d torture \u201cwith such brutality that is has caused the death of the victim,\u201d reported Reuters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over 15 months ago, Russia was expelled from the United Nations Human Rights Council after invading Ukraine, with \u201c93 votes cast in favour\u202624 against it and 58 abstentions,\u201d according to The Independent.<\/a><\/p>\n

No Russian representative attended the U.N. hearings this past week, and thus no response was given to the allegations. In March, the U.N. commission announced that the crimes of Russian forces in Ukraine \u201cmay constitute crimes against humanity,\u201d including<\/a> \u201cthe use of torture.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRussia is trying to reestablish its credibility,\u201d says Mwita, amid recent news that Russia prepares to run for reelection to the U.N. Human Rights Council in an upcoming vote on October 10th.<\/p>\n

Moscow is circulating a position paper at the U.N. campaigning its intention to \u201cpromote principles of cooperation and strengthening of constructive mutually respectful dialogue in the council in order to find adequate solutions for human rights issues,\u201d reports BBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re trying to refuse to be labeled, and maligned by the USA,\u201d says Mwita.<\/p>\n

The Russian position paper being circulated purports its primary focus is to prevent the \u201cincreasing trend\u201d of weaponizing the HRC for punishing rivals or rewarding allies of its member nations.<\/p>\n

Mwita points to the fact that the U.S. has continued to have a spot at the HRC despite their own atrocities committed in Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq as rationale for Russia\u2019s scrutiny towards the HRC and its removal from the council.<\/p>\n

In the eyes of Russia, Moscow has a \u201cright to rejoin the HRC\u201d if the U.S. continues can continue to sit on it despite their own human rights violations abroad, says Mwita.<\/p>\n

Moscow has reportedly begun seeking votes from smaller countries in exchange for the promise of goods such as “grain and arms,” writes BBC. Russia only competes against Albania and Bulgaria for two remaining seats on the council.<\/p>\n

“Rejoining the HRC is a way of them [Russia] showing their force,” says Mwita.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Biden to give long-range ATACMS missiles to Kyiv U.S. President Joe Biden has agreed this weekend to send a \u201csmall number\u201d of long-range missiles known as the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to Kyiv in the coming weeks according to NBC News and the Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, in Geneva, a U.N. inquiry into human<\/p>\n

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