Speaking on the second day of the public debate of the UN General Assembly, the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko finished his speech about the confrontation with Russia, the situation in the Donbass, to recognize the Holodomor of 1932-33 as genocide of the Ukrainian people.
«The 72nd session of the General Assembly coincides with the 85th anniversary of one of the deadliest crimes of the twentieth century — the Holodomor. It was the creation of an artificial famine in Ukraine in 1932-1933, organized by the totalitarian regime of Stalin, which led to the deaths of 7 to 10 million Ukrainians», — said Petro Poroshenko. «I urge all member States of the UN to make a historic decision to recognize the Holodomor as an act of genocide.»
In his speech, Poroshenko appealed to the words of the Creator of the term «genocide» and the author of the Convention on the prevention of the crime of genocide and punishment (1948) Polish jurist Raphael Lemkin, who called the destruction of the Ukrainian nation (Holodomor) «classic example of genocide.»
Under the Convention (article 2), genocide is recognized complete or partial destruction of any ethnic, national, racial, cultural or religious group by killing, causing serious harm to the health of its members; the application of measures to prevent the birth of offspring; the removal of children from families; deliberate creation of such conditions that will cause total or partial physical destruction of the group.
Since the signing of the Convention in 1948, genocide is recognized as an international crime.
Note that at the UN level the Holodomor in Ukraine as genocide was not recognized, however, 20 countries have already done it. Among them: Austria, Czech Republic, Argentina, Slovakia, Ecuador, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Australia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Poland, Chile, Colombia, Georgia, United States and Canada.
