The debate on the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine, initiated by a member of the ruling Conservative Party in the House of Commons, Pauline Latham, took place in the Westminster Hall of the British Parliament.
The rapporteur expressed hope that the parliament recognizes that this “man-made famine was a genocide.”
According to Lathem, this is not the first time she is taking part in the debate on the Holodomor in Ukraine, being consistent in her calls on the British government to recognize the Holodomor in Ukraine as genocide. "I stand here today to remind colleagues of this atrocity which occurred in Ukraine from 1932 to 1933, and ask again that the government recognize this politicized act of evil as genocide," Latham said.
She recalled that the Holodomor literally means "death by starvation".
Read alsoUkraine envoy asks U.S. Senate to recognize Holodomor as act of genocide"And the Ukrainian Holodomor was a campaign purposely orchestrated by Joseph Stalin to decimate a large segment of the Ukrainian population," Latham said.
She also said that the exact number of people who died during the Holodomor remains unknown. In this regard, Latham noted that, according to estimates, the number of victims of the Holodomor is between 7 and 10 million Ukrainian people.
The member of the House of Commons is convinced that certain actions by Stalin, including the closure of the eastern border of Ukraine, to block the movement of Ukrainian peasants to Russia in search of food, is a clear sign that his policy was motivated by hostility to the identity, traditions, and culture of Ukrainians, and that today this would be called ethnic cleansing.
Read alsoRussia uses history as weapon in its war on Ukraine - mediaShe said that the Holodomor in Ukraine is an example of a crime caused by political ideology, and “fueled by prejudice.” In her conviction, from the history of the Holodomor, it is necessary to learn important lessons and ensure that “the world is never again blind to such a wide-scale atrocity.” Latham called on the British government to join the 17 countries that had already recognized the Holodomor as genocide.
In turn, Labor Party member Stephen Pound said that the Holodomor was a man-made famine and genocide “by any definition”. “And it wasn’t just the individual spirit and courage of the Ukrainian people, which we’ve seen over and over again. Everyone who was on Euromaidan, anyone who has actually seen the heroic reaction of the Ukrainian people to the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Donetsk in the Donbas region, will actually recognize the immense courage, the strength of the Ukrainian people. And that was a threat to the ‘Komintern’,” he said.
Read alsoOld narratives of Stalin's Holodomor shape up Putin's act against Ukraine - mediaAccording to him, this act of genocide left a wound in the memory of the Ukrainian people, who still feel the pain of this crime.
At the same time, a representative of the UK Government attending the debate said that the government remains convinced that the recognition of this decision should be based on a trustworthy judicial process. He noted that the UK government would adhere to this approach.
