The committee of the Ukrainian parliament supported the draft law, allowing the completion of the National Museum of the Holodomor genocide at the expense of the Canadian government, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine reported.
The statement reads, “The Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy of the Verkhovna Rada, at its latest session, considered the draft law on amending the Law “On Museums and Museum Affairs” regarding the activities of the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide (registry No. 10361).”
Acting Minister of Culture Rostyslav Karandiiev participated in the session, stating, “We are pleased to have resources that we can allocate to the completion of this facility, which is crucial for us both politically and from a scientific museum perspective.”
The funding for the project is approximately CAD 15 million. Ultimately, the committee recommended that the Verkhovna Rada approve the draft law as a basis with a shortened period for submitting amendments and proposals by half.
“The adoption of amendments to the Law “On Museums and Museum Affairs” will create legislative conditions for monitoring the activities of the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide in the conditions of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” according to the Ministry of Culture.
Additionally, the Museum will establish a supervisory and expert council, including representatives from professional and scientific groups, international organizations, foreign Ukrainians, and descendants of Holodomor victims.
The National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide was opened in Kyiv in August 2009 by order of Ukraine’s government. The first part of the complex was built in 2008, and the second began to be built in 2017, but the process was suspended due to the pandemic and the full-scale invasion of Russia. In November 2020, Volodymyr Zelenskyy instructed the government to finance the National Holodomor-Genocide Museum complex project.
However, this year, in July, the President of Ukraine promised a draft law on allocating over half a million hryvnias to complete the museum’s construction. Zelenskyy stated that the priority task now is to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.
The construction of the second stage of the complex was partially financed from the state budget in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020-2022. The construction of the memorial complex honoring the victims of the Holodomor was provided for by the law “On the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine”.
In October, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed Ottawa’s intention to allocate funds to Ukraine to complete the Holodomor Museum in Kyiv in a conversation with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Cover: Holodomor Museum