[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 435 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 435

  Expressing the sense of the Senate that the 85th anniversary of the 
Ukrainian Famine of 1932-1933, known as the Holodomor, should serve as 
a reminder of repressive Soviet policies against the people of Ukraine.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 14, 2018

    Mr. Portman (for himself, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Casey, Mr. Rubio, Mr. 
   Gardner, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Brown, Mr. Johnson, Mr. 
  Wicker, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Murphy, and Mrs. Shaheen) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the Senate that the 85th anniversary of the 
Ukrainian Famine of 1932-1933, known as the Holodomor, should serve as 
a reminder of repressive Soviet policies against the people of Ukraine.

Whereas 2017-2018 marks the 85th anniversary of the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-
        1933, known as the Holodomor;
Whereas, in 1932 and 1933, millions of Ukrainian people perished at the will of 
        the totalitarian Stalinist government of the former Soviet Union, which 
        perpetrated a premeditated famine in Ukraine in an effort to break the 
        nation's resistance to collectivization and communist occupation;
Whereas the Soviet government deliberately confiscated grain harvests and 
        starved millions of Ukrainian men, women, and children by a policy of 
        forced collectivization that sought to destroy the nationally conscious 
        movement for independence;
Whereas Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin ordered the borders of Ukraine sealed to 
        prevent anyone from escaping the manmade starvation and to prevent the 
        delivery of any international food aid that would provide relief to the 
        starving;
Whereas numerous scholars worldwide have worked to uncover the scale of the 
        famine, including Canadian wheat expert Andrew Cairns, who visited 
        Ukraine in 1932 and was told that there was no grain ``because the 
        government had collected so much grain and exported it to England and 
        Italy,'' while Joseph Stalin simultaneously denied food aid to the 
        people of Ukraine;
Whereas nearly a quarter of Ukraine's rural population perished or were forced 
        into exile due to the induced starvation, and the entire nation suffered 
        from the consequences of the prolonged famine;
Whereas noted correspondents of the time were refuted for their courage in 
        depicting and reporting on the forced famine in Ukraine, including 
        Gareth Jones, William Henry Chamberlin, and Malcolm Muggeridge, who 
        wrote, ``They (the peasants) will tell you that many have already died 
        of famine and that many are dying every day; that thousands have been 
        shot by the government and hundreds of thousands exiled . . .'';
Whereas title V of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the 
        Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1986 (Public Law 99-
        180; 99 Stat. 1157), signed into law on December 13, 1985, established 
        the Commission on the Ukraine Famine to ``conduct a study of the 
        Ukrainian Famine of 1932-1933 in order to expand the world's knowledge 
        of the famine and provide the American public with a better 
        understanding of the Soviet system by revealing the Soviet role'' in it;
Whereas, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, archival documents became 
        available that confirmed the deliberate and premeditated deadly nature 
        of the famine, and that exposed the atrocities committed by the Soviet 
        government against the Ukrainian people;
Whereas Raphael Lemkin, who devoted his life to the development of legal 
        concepts and norms for containing mass atrocities and whose tireless 
        advocacy swayed the United Nations in 1948 to adopt the Convention on 
        the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, authored an 
        essay in 1953 entitled, ``Soviet Genocide in [the] Ukraine,'' which 
        highlighted the ``classic example of Soviet genocide,'' characterizing 
        it ``not simply a case of mass murder [, but as] a case of genocide, of 
        destruction, not of individuals only, but of a culture and a nation'';
Whereas Ukraine's law N 376-V ``About the 1932-1933 Holodomor in Ukraine'' of 
        November 28, 2006, gave official recognition to the Holodomor as an act 
        of genocide against the Ukrainian people;
Whereas President George W. Bush signed into law Public Law 109-340 on October 
        13, 2006, authorizing the Government of Ukraine ``to establish a 
        memorial on Federal land in the District of Columbia to honor the 
        victims of the Ukrainian famine-genocide of 1932-1933,'' which was 
        officially dedicated in November 2015;
Whereas the Government of Ukraine and the Ukrainian communities in the United 
        States and worldwide continue their efforts to secure greater 
        international awareness and understanding of the 1932-1933 tragedy; and
Whereas victims of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 will be commemorated by Ukrainian 
        communities around the globe, and in Ukraine, through November 2018: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) solemnly remembers the 85th anniversary of the 
        Holodomor of 1932-1933 and extends its deepest sympathies to 
        the victims, survivors, and families of this tragedy;
            (2) condemns the systematic violations of human rights, 
        including the freedom of self-determination and freedom of 
        speech, of the Ukrainian people by the Soviet government;
            (3) recognizes the findings of the Commission on the 
        Ukraine Famine as submitted to Congress on April 22, 1988, 
        including that ``Joseph Stalin and those around him committed 
        genocide against the Ukrainians in 1932-1933'';
            (4) encourages dissemination of information regarding the 
        Holodomor of 1932-1933 in order to expand the world's knowledge 
        of this manmade tragedy; and
            (5) supports the continuing efforts of the people of 
        Ukraine to work toward ensuring democratic principles, a free-
        market economy, and full respect for human rights, in order to 
        enable Ukraine to achieve its potential as an important 
        strategic partner of the United States in that region of the 
        world, and to reflect the will of its people.
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