СВІТОВИЙ КОНҐРЕС УКРАЇНЦІВ UKRAINIAN WORLD CONGRESS
  CONGRÈS MONDIAL UKRAINIEN CONGRESO MUNDIAL UCRANIO  

RESOLUTION

  ON THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GREAT FAMINE 1932-33 IN UKRAINE

In 2007-2008 the world community  will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the  Famine of 1932-33 in Ukraine, when more than 7,000,000 Ukrainian men, women and children lost their lives. This tragedy was not the result of a natural disaster but the consequence of a  calculated policy by the Soviet communist regime under Josef Stalin in Moscow to break the will of the  Ukrainian people.  The (political entity-parliament) expresses the sense that the 75th anniversary of the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33 should serve to honor the memory of the victims, recognize this tragedy as Genocide against the Ukrainian people, condemn the Soviet communist perpetrators, acknowledge the failure of the world community to react with appropriate opprobrium and urge contemporary and future world communities to be vigilant against any manifestations of repression and inhumanity.

Whereas in 1932-33  in what is now Ukraine, at least 7,000,000 men, women and children lost their lives as a consequence of the deprivation of basic sustenance which resulted in widespread famine;  
Whereas these millions of Ukrainians died not of natural causes but as a result of a calculated  inhuman policy designed to punish Ukrainians for their resistance and opposition to the Soviet Union’s  political and economic oppression and spiritual (religious and cultural) Russification,  including the forced collectivization of agriculture, the liquidation of  Ukrainian religion, culture and science; 

Whereas there is clear and conclusive evidence of the criminal intent of the perpetrators as the central government of the former Soviet Union from Moscow orchestrated the appropriation of grain from Ukraine, exported 1,700,000 tons to the West,  tightly controlled the borders of Ukraine to preclude starving Ukrainians from crossing into Russia or other countries in search of bread and rejected offers from international relief organizations to assist the starving population  with denials of famine in Ukraine and assurances of no need for assistance;

Whereas complicit with Soviet denials, some from the West  conspired  to conceal and lend credence to Soviet propaganda and some governments such as that of the United States of America even extended diplomatic relations to the Soviet Union at the height of this Soviet atrocity;   
Whereas one of the more notorious offenders in Soviet complicity, a journalist, one Walter Duranty from The New York Times not only touted Soviet propaganda of collectivization and denied the ravages of the Famine, but conspired to defraud his readers as well as the global community and was awarded a Pulitzer prize in journalism for his efforts;  

Whereas in his study The Harvest of Sorrow, the British historian Robert Conquest depicted the magnitude of this tragedy: “A quarter of the rural population, men, women, and children, lay dead or dying, the rest in various stages of debilitation with no strength to bury their families or neighbors;”  

Whereas the United States Congress Commission’s report in 1988 confirmed that the government of the former Soviet Union in 1932-33 consciously used the brutal policy of forced famine to repress the Ukrainian people, to oppress the Ukrainians’ inviolable religious and political rights and concluded that the Famine in Ukraine 1932-33 was  Genocide against the Ukrainian  people as subsequently defined by the United Nations Convention on Genocide; 

Whereas government bodies of several countries in their official documents and resolutions have recognized and acknowledged the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33 as Genocide;  
Whereas the President of Ukraine on the 25th of November 2005 appealed to all countries of the world community to recognize the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33 as Genocide; 

Whereas pursuant to a Ukrainian presidential decree from the 26th of November 1998,  Ukrainian communities worldwide commemorate this tragedy  annually particularly in the month of November and the 75th anniversary shall be an occasion for special even more widespread and significant observances;  

Whereas many Ukrainians who survived the Ukrainian Famine (Holodomor) of 1932-33 emigrated to (country of reference) and they, their children, granchildren and new arrivals of Ukrainian ethnicity all have made a positive and substantial contribution to its growth and development; 

Whereas (country of reference) condemns all atrocities, crimes against humanity and genocides and the citizens of (country of reference) highly value and defend human rights:

Now, therefore, be it resolved by (the political entity):

  1. That the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33 be recognized and acknowledged as Genocide against the Ukrainian people;
  2. That  the  victims  of  the  Ukrainian Famine 1932-33  be  solemnly  remembered  on  its  75th
    anniversary  and  the  month of  November be designated  in (country of reference) annually as a particular time to reflect upon the Ukrainian Famine 1932-33;
  3. That the communist regime of the the Soviet Union with its center in Moscow be condemned for its  systematic disregard for human life, human rights, human liberty and self-determination that characterized the repressive policies of  Joseph Stalin and his henchmen  during the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33;
  4. That those from the West who were complicit in the coverup thereby facilitating the crimes of theperpetrators should be rebuked even posthumously and their superiors and/or successors shoulddenounce them  publicly; in this regard (the politcal entity) urges the publisher of The New YorkTimes to return the  Pulitzer prize awarded to its employee Walter Duranty and the Trustees of Columbia University’s Pulitzer Committee to revoke that award, thereby distancing themselves from complicity;
  5. That on the 75th anniversary of the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33, as Ukraine moves toward a fuller democracy with pervasive respect for human rights and free spiritual and economic opportunity, it is essential that (country of reference) continue to assist Ukraine in its endeavors aimed at the betterment of its society and people; and
  1. That any supplemental material that may assist in the dissemination of information about the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33 and thereby help prevent similar tragedies, should be compiled by historians, academicians and parliamentarians and that these be included within the educational material utilized by educational institutions in  (country of reference) and be made available worldwide for a more complete study of this great tragedy of mankind.

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