On November 30, 2007, 15th OSCE Ministerial Council ended in Madrid, where following the initiative of Ukraine a joint statement “On 75th anniversary of the Holodomor of 1932 - 1933 in Ukraine” was published, according to the MFA press-service. In this document the OSCE participating states - Andorra, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Holy See, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States of America – paid tribute to the memory of the victims of the national tragedy of the Ukrainian people – Holodomor, which took innocent lives of millions of Ukrainians as a result of the mass starvation brought about by the cruel actions and policies of the totalitarian Stalinist regime.
Also in the statement efforts were acknowledged undertaken in the recent years to raise awareness of the Holodomor, including in the United Nations, its specialized agencies and in the OSCE participating States, in particular the adoption by consensus on 1 November 2007 of the relevant UNESCO Resolution by 193 Member States. The initiative of Ukraine to organize the commemorations on the occasion of the Holodomor 75th anniversary with presence of OSCE participating States was welcomed.
Confirming the OSCE commitment to “clearly and unequivocally condemn totalitarism” OSCE participating states underlined the importance of raising public awareness of the tragic events of our common past, of promoting tolerance and non-discrimination, of strengthening the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for the prevention of human tragedies in the future.
