U.N. Human Rights Council votes to appoint investigator to monitor Russia

Oct. 7 (UPI) -- The United Nations Human Rights Council voted Friday to establish a monitor for the deteriorating human rights situation in Russia and to report on "violations of civil society."

"Concerning the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, the Council strongly urged the Russian authorities to comply with all of the State's obligations under international human rights law, and decided to appoint a special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation for a period of one year," the U.N. OHCHR said, in a statement.

The vote, which comes amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, marks the first time that such monitoring has been mandated on a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, according to the International Service for Human Rights.

"With this vote, Council members have pledged their support to Russian civilians and civil society groups as they are under attack from an increasingly violent and totalitarian state," said Phil Lynch, executive director of the ISHR, in a statement.

British Ambassador Simon Manley thanked the U.N. Human Rights Council for the action to monitor Russian human rights violations.

"Since Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, repression and attacks against individuals exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms have only increased," Manley said in a statement. "Repression at home enables aggression abroad. Putin's government tries to silence those who speak out against the war and detain those who try to avoid being abroad to die in the towns and fields of Ukraine. The increasing violence abroad in turn necessitates more brutal repression at home."

In April the U.N. General Assembly voted to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council due to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and the atrocities committed by the Russian military there.