Swiss Parliament recognises Holodomor as genocide

The Swiss Parliament has recognised the Holodomor of 1932-1933 as an act of genocide. [The Holodomor was a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine which claimed the lives of millions of Ukrainians – ed.]

Source: Ruslan Stefanchuk, Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament), as reported by European Pravda 

Details: In the statement that has been adopted, the National Council – the lower house of Switzerland's parliament – recognises as genocide the systematic actions aimed at deliberate mass murder by starvation with the intention of eradicating a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

Quote from Stefanchuk: "This is a genuinely historic decision. And it is a critical step towards restoring historical justice and honouring the memory of millions of innocent victims."

According to the Swiss parliament's website, the declaration was adopted with 123 votes in favour. 58 parliamentarians voted against it and 7 abstained.

The declaration states that 4 million Ukrainians, perhaps 2 million Kazakhs, and hundreds of thousands of Russians died during the famine in 1932-1933.

"The National Council recognises as an act of genocide the clearly systematic actions leading to a massive and purposeful famine and committed with the intention of destroying a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such in whole or in part," the text says.

The Holodomor has been recognised as a genocide of the Ukrainian people by the parliaments of about 30 countries, as well as the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

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