US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield visits Gara de Nord train station where infrastructure has been set up to welcome and assist refugees from Ukraine, in Bucharest, Romania , April 4, 2022
Ioana Moldovan for NPR
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US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield visits Gara de Nord train station where infrastructure has been set up to welcome and assist refugees from Ukraine, in Bucharest, Romania , April 4, 2022
Ioana Moldovan for NPR
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield will seek to remove Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.
At a press conference in Bucharest, Romania, today, Thomas-Greenfield called Russian participation a “farce” and said Russia should not have a position of authority on the council.
Thomas-Greenfield said she would bring the issue to the Security Council on Wednesday immediately after returning to New York, and expects the General Assembly to address the issue as early as Thursday. In early March, 140 UN member states passed a resolution condemning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and demanding the withdrawal of military forces.
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield holds a press conference at the official hall of Gara de Nord train station in Bucharest, April 4, 2022. “As I told Prime Minister Ciuca earlier in our heated discussion, “I want the Romanian people to know that you are not alone. In all of your humanitarian efforts, the United States is your committed partner,” the Ambassador said.
Ioana Moldovan for NPR
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Thomas-Greenfield toured Moldova and Romania, visiting refugee centers and speaking with local officials, NGOs and refugees. She made her remarks at Bucharest’s Gara de Nord train station, a transit hub for Ukrainians fleeing through Romania. According to the UN, more than 4 million refugees have left Ukraine since the Russian invasion, and 643,058 entered Romania by Sunday.
In an interview shortly after his speech, Thomas-Greenfield told NPR’s Michel Martin that Russia should be held to a higher standard as a permanent member of the Security Council, and yet “did everything it could to, in my opinion, harm the international community”. order and compromise the values of the United Nations; jeopardize the Human Rights Council. She vowed to hold them accountable, including through a suspension from the board.
“It’s more than symbolic, and it has strength because it continues what we started, which is to isolate Russia and call it out for what it does,” he said. she declared. “They have a narrative that what they are doing is normal. This is not normal. This is not acceptable, and they will hear from all over the world that we will not continue to allow their disinformation, their propaganda, to be used on a Platform.”
Raed Arafat, head of Romania’s Emergency Situations Department, shows U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield the facilities at the Gara de Nord railway station in Bucharest, Romania, April 4 2022.
Ioana Moldovan for NPR
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Thomas-Greenfield said refugees emerging from Kyiv, Mariupol and other parts of Ukraine who have suffered weeks of attacks are deeply traumatized.
“I was told that when I met some of the medical staff today, they see people who need a lot of psychological support,” she said, adding that it is horrible to see what a terrible impact the actions of one man can have on millions.
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