29 February 2008
We received a petition asking:
"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to recognise the Ukrainian Famine as a genocide against the Ukrainian People, request the UK Parliament to adopt a motion requiring the famine genocide to be studied and commemorated, and support a United Nations resolution to recognise the famine as a genocide."
Details of Petition:
"Between 1932 and 1933 the Soviet Government systematically starved between 7,000, 000 and 11,000,000 Ukrainians to death by collecting all edible materials from Ukrainian villages. Western journalists delibarately concealed the famine. Western diplomats were aware of the situation but chose to ignore the largest programme of murder undertaken in peacetime Europe. The years before and after the famine saw a mass slaughter of Ukraine’s writers, artists and middle class. We request that the Prime Minister takes the steps above to provide a measure of justice for the victims of the famine genocide and to ensure that an accurate history of Europe without this grotesque ommission is taught in British schools."
Read the Government’s response
The famine of 1932-33 in Ukraine was an appalling, man-made human tragedy. The Government fully recognises its importance in Ukraine’s history. In February 2007, Minister for Europe Geoff Hoon, paid his respects to the victims of this tragedy by laying a wreath at the famine memorial in Kiev. In November 2007, the UK supported a resolution at UNESCO honouring the memory of those who perished in the famine of 1932-33 and encouraging the promotion of its remembrance.
The Government does not judge that the evidence of the 1932-33 events is sufficiently unequivocal to persuade us that the famine should be categorised as genocide as defined by the 1948 UN Convention on Genocide. However, the Government does recognise that there is a division of opinion among academics on this matter, and will continue to follow the debate and study any emerging evidence closely.
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