Swiss parliament declares ‘Holodomor’ famine in Ukraine a genocide

By Timo Kirez

GENEVA (AA) – The lower chamber of the Swiss Federal Assembly on Tuesday recognized the “Holodomor” famine as an act of genocide.

In the session of the National Council, which could be followed via livestream, 123 MPs voted in favor of the recognition, and 58 voted against it. There were seven abstentions.

The declaration was requested and formulated by the National Council's Foreign Affairs Committee.

The term Holodomor, which means “killing by hunger” in the Ukrainian language, refers to the starvation of people in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic during the Soviet Union era in the 1930s.

An estimated three to seven million people fell victim to the “Holodomor” famine in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Since gaining independence in 1991, Ukraine has been seeking international recognition of the Holodomor as a genocide.

The declaration in the Swiss parliament was requested and formulated by the National Council's Foreign Affairs Committee.

“The National Council recognizes as an act of genocide acts that are demonstrably systematic, that lead to large-scale and targeted starvation and that are committed with the intention of destroying a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such in whole or in part,” the National Council writes on its website.

According to the resolution, “around four million Ukrainians, around 2 million Kazakhs and several hundred thousand Russians fell victim to starvation as a result of the ‘Holodomor.’”

The resolution is now being disseminated via the diplomatic network of the Swiss Foreign Ministry, the National Council writes on its website.

Russia vehemently rejects the genocide label, and calls it a tragedy.

In a statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry in 2007, Moscow described the genocide designation of Holodomor as a “one-sided distortion of history.”

“The announcement of the tragic events of those years as 'genocide' against the Ukrainian people is a one-sided distortion of history in favor of modern political and ideological guidelines,” the statement said.