MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION
European Parliament 90 years after the Holodomor: recognizing the mass killing through starvation as genocide
The European Parliament 12.12.2022 - (2022/3001(RSP))
–having regard to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,
–having regard to the UN Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention),
–having regard to the Ukrainian Law on the Holodomor in Ukraine of 1932-1933 adopted on 28 November 2006,
–having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other UN human rights treaties and instruments,
–having regard to its resolution of 23 October 2008 on the commemoration of the Holodomor, the artificial famine in Ukraine (1932-1933)[1],
–having regard to the report of United States Commission on the Ukraine Famine 1932-1933 to the United States Congress of 19 April 1988,
–having regard to the resolution on remembrance of victims of the Great Famine (Holodomor) in Ukraine 1932-1933 adopted on 1 November 2007 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),
–having regard to the Commission report of 22 December 2010 entitled ‘The memory of the crimes committed by totalitarian regimes in Europe’(COM(2010)0783),
–having regard to its resolution of 19 September 2019 on the importance of European remembrance for the future of Europe[2],
–having regard to Rule 132(2) of its Rules of Procedure,
A.whereas the Genocide Convention criminalises a number of acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group; killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group; whereas genocide can take place both in time of war as well as in time of peace;
B.whereas the Great Famine, or Holodomor, was a deliberate, planned and consistent action carried out by the despotic Bolshevik regime ruling the Soviet Union to break the resistance of the Ukrainian population and subjugate them under an oppressive state; whereas the Holodomor claimed millions of lives and is an open wound in Ukraine’s modern history;
C.whereas the Holodomor famine of 1932-1933, which caused the deaths of millions of Ukrainians, was cynically and cruelly planned by Stalin’s communist regime in order to force through the Soviet Union’s policy of collectivisation of agriculture against the will of the rural population in Ukraine;
D.whereas the tragedy of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine was officially denied by the Soviet authorities for many decades and continues to be denied or misinterpreted by Putin’s regime; whereas the continuity in Moscow’s refusal to recognise crimes of the past and its use of similar policies today are clear evidence of the ideological affinity of these regimes and of their incompatibility with the universal principles and standards of human rights and humanity;
E.whereas an increasing number of countries, including Australia, Canada, Colombia, Czechia, Ecuador, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Ukraine, USA and the Holy See recognise the Holodomor as genocide, with the German Parliament recently adopting a resolution to this effect;
F.whereas the 1932-1933 Holodomor famine was one of the most hideous acts perpetrated by Russia against the nations it had subjugated in Europe and Asia; whereas, however, it is part of a recurring pattern of crimes committed by the Tsarist, Soviet and Putin regimes against nations, indigenous people and ethnic and religious groups subjugated by the Russians, with the most egregious examples including Circassians and Crimean Tatars;
G.whereas the commemoration of crimes against humanity in European history should help to prevent the occurrence of similar crimes in the future, while the memories of Europe’s tragic past must be kept alive in order to honour the victims and condemn the perpetrators;
H.whereas the Russian Federation is using famine as a weapon and is blocking exports of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea, which is crucial for food security in many parts of the world; whereas at the same time Russia blames democratic societies for actions contributing to food shortages worldwide;
I.whereas the Russian Federation is conducting an aggressive propaganda campaign in many parts of the world, including Africa, the Middle East and Asia, blaming the West for the war in Ukraine and its consequences and denying the impact of military operations in Ukraine on global food security;
1.Recognises the Holodomor (the artificial famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine) as a genocide against the Ukrainian people, aiming to destroy the social foundations of the Ukrainian nation, its traditions, culture and national identity;
2.Encourages the dissemination of information on the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in order to spread awareness of this unimaginable human tragedy, which led to the deaths of innocent victims;
3.Condemns in the strongest possible terms this act and the crimes of the totalitarian regime of the USSR in organising the Holodomor, which resulted in the death of millions of Ukrainians and significantly harmed the social foundations of the Ukrainian society, their age-old traditions, spiritual culture and national identity;
4.Recalls that the Holodomor was preceded by other acts of genocide targeted at Circassians and other indigenous people and ethnic and religious groups inhabiting the vast territories of Russia and followed by the genocide of the Crimean Tatars when, in 1944, the totalitarian Soviet communist regime expelled the Crimean Tatars, the indigenous inhabitants of Crimea, from their homeland and hundreds of thousands of men, women and children were forcibly and violently deported to Siberia and the Central Asian regions of the USSR; recalls, further, that almost half of them lost their lives within the first year of exile and that the Soviet regime banned the Crimean Tatars from returning to Crimea for almost 50 years;
5.Expresses its full sympathy with the Ukrainian people, who suffered in this tragedy, and pays its respects to those who died as a consequence of the artificial famine of 1932-1933; underlines that 90 years after these tragic events, Ukrainian people are once again facing mass murder, forced deportation, torture and intimidation at the hands of Russian Federation, which amount to genocide and were clearly visible in Mariupol, Bucha, Irpin and elsewhere;
6.Expresses its conviction that, despite the disinformation campaign conducted by the Russian Federation, atrocious war crimes will continue to be revealed and thoroughly investigated, and that the perpetrators will be punished, including Vladimir Putin and other people at different levels who are responsible for the war;
7.Condemns the missile attacks on Ukrainian cities aiming primarily to destroy energy infrastructure; stresses the need to supply Ukraine with adequate modern air defence systems that will make such attacks by the Russian Federation impossible; points out that the evidence of war crimes already uncovered provides further confirmation of the barbaric nature of Russian aggression;
8.Calls on all the countries which have not yet recognised the Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainian people to do so without delay;
9.Reiterates the importance of raising public awareness and remembering the lessons learned from this genocide in order to avoid any similar catastrophe in the future and calls for an historical and legal assessment of the Holodomor; points to similarities that can be observed between modern Russian Federation policies during the war in Ukraine and events from 90 years ago;
10.Calls on EU Member States and third countries to open their archives on the events of 1932-1933 in order to reveal the full truth of this tragedy;
11.Invites all EU Member States and third countries to take part in the mourning, grief and solemn commemoration of the victims during the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine;
12.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the President, Government and Parliament of Ukraine, the Government and Parliament of the Russian Federation, the Secretary-General of the UN, the Secretary-General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe.
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