SPAIN’S PARLIAMENT ISSUES STATEMENT ON UKRAINIAN FAMINE 1932-33

     On May 30, 2007 the Congress of Deputies of Spain issued a Statement honoring the memory of the victims of the Ukrainian Great Famine (Holodomor) 1932-33. The Statement was issued in connection with the upcoming 75^th anniversary of the tragedy. The draft had been initiated and submitted by the Convergence and Unification party.

      According to Ukraine’s Embassy in Madrid, the original text submitted by the Convergence and Unification party included a declaration that “the artificial Ukrainian famine 1932-33 was a genuine genocide in accordance with the definition of the Convention of Nations” (the drafters meant to say United Nations’ Genocide Convention of 1948.) However, representatives of Spain’s ruling Socialist Workers Party insisted that provision be deleted. Also the original draft did not include the final provision about deepening cooperation with the EU and neighboring countries, especially Russia. For some reason this provision was inserted by the opposition People’s Party which argued its necessity due to the lack of a binding agreement between Ukraine and the Russian Federation regarding lines of energy transport. It’s not clear how this is related to the Great Famine of 1932-33.

     Nonetheless, the Statement of Spain’s Congress of Deputies is significant as another step in the continuing process of seeking international recognition of the Great Famine 1932-33. The credit for this belongs to the personnel of Ukraine’s Embassy in Madrid and the assistance of the new Ukrainian-Spanish communities.  Stronger draft statements, which include language about “genocide”, have been submitted by the Ukrainian-Spanish communities on regional levels and are awaiting resolution. Spain’s Congress of Deputies is the tenth parliament to have passed a resolution or statement in this matter.  Others are: Argentina, Australia, Canada, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and United States of America.      

June 6, 2007                                                                                                 Ukrainian World Congress