OSCE PA recognized the Holodomor of 1932 — 1933 in Ukraine and advised all parliaments to do the same

The 17th session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) passed a resolution on the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine last Sunday in Astana. OSCE PA “pays tribute to the innocent lives of millions of Ukrainians who perished during the Holodomor of 1932 and 1933 as a result of the mass starvation brought about by the cruel deliberate actions and policies of totalitarian Stalinist regime”, “welcomes the recognition of the Holodomor in the United Nations, by the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization and by the national parliaments of a number of the OSCE participating States,” “endorses the Joint Statement of 31 OSCE participating States on the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine, delivered at the 15th Meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council,” the resolution says in particular. Besides, OSCE PA “supports the initiative of Ukraine to reveal the full truth of this tragedy of Ukrainian people, in particular, through raising public awareness of the Holodomor at international and national levels, organizing the commemorations of the Holodomor as well as academic, expert and civil events aimed at discussing this issue.” OSCE PA “invites the parliamentarians of the OSCE Member States to participate in the events, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine” and “strongly encourages all parliaments to adopt acts regarding recognition of the Holodomor.”

COMMENTARY

Stanislav KULCHYTSKY , Deputy Director, Institute of the History of Ukraine (National Academy of Sciences):

“For the world community to recognize the 1932-1933 Holodomor as genocide, we should cooperate more with unbiased foreign historians. As it has already been reported, the book Why Was He Destroying Us? Stalin and the Holodomor in Ukraine of The Day Library series was recently launched in Bucharest. Speaking at this ceremony, member of the Rumanian Academy of Sciences Florin Constantinium noted that it is strange that the polemics, which has lasted for 20 years now since the publication of Robert Conquest’s Harvest of Sorrow , is inadequately based on the findings of Ukrainian historians. As is known, in this polemics the Ukrainian side does not deny the fact of an all-USSR famine in 1932-1933, but it speaks about something entirely different - the Holodomor in Ukraine, and it has enough facts to differentiate between the two phenomena. As for the attitude of Russia to this subject, we should react to the way it treats this ticklish question by way of third countries’ mediation.”