[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 92 (Thursday, May 26, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S2755]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE RESOLUTION 650--RECOGNIZING MAY 28 AS ``WORLD HUNGER DAY'', THAT 
THE 90TH 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, AND THAT VLADIMIR PUTIN'S ILLEGAL WAR 
   AGAINST UKRAINE HAS DIMINISHED UKRAINE'S AGRICULTURAL OUTPUT AND 
 THREATENS TO EXACERBATE THE PROBLEMS OF GLOBAL HUNGER ON WORLD HUNGER 
                                  DAY

  Mr. KAINE (for himself, Mr. Portman, Mr. Durbin, and Mr. Van Hollen) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 650

       Whereas Ukraine is a major global exporter of agricultural 
     products critical to global food supplies, including wheat, 
     corn, barley, and sunflower;
       Whereas Ukrainian wheat output has decreased by 34 percent, 
     and corn, barley, and other grain output has decreased by 
     more than 50 percent in the past year as a result of Russia's 
     war against Ukraine;
       Whereas Russia's illegal occupation of the Crimean 
     peninsula and Ukrainian Black Sea ports of Mariupol and 
     Kherson, its assault on Odessa, its use of naval mines in the 
     Black Sea and land mines in Ukraine's agricultural areas, and 
     the destruction of Ukrainian export terminals and 
     transportation infrastructure have severely constrained 
     Ukraine's ability to export grain;
       Whereas the number of people around the world facing acute 
     food insecurity greatly increased from 135,000,000 in 2019, 
     to 193,000,000 in 2021, nearly 40,000,000 people experienced 
     emergency levels of acute food insecurity (just one step away 
     from famine) in 2021, and the number of people experiencing 
     such food insecurity is projected to increase in 2022;
       Whereas the effects of Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine 
     are expected to increase global grain prices and 
     disproportionately impact low- and middle-income countries in 
     the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and sub-Saharan 
     Africa who are dependent on imported Ukrainian wheat;
       Whereas the totality of these actions by Russia represents 
     an intentional and concerted effort to attack the Ukrainian 
     agricultural sector resembling the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-
     1933, which was caused by the former Soviet Union;
       Whereas, Senate Resolution 435, which was passed by the 
     Senate on October 3, 2018, commemorated the 85th anniversary 
     of the Holodomor and recognized the Soviet Union's role in 
     perpetrating this genocide against the Ukrainian people;
       Whereas 2022-2023 marks the 90th anniversary of the 
     Ukrainian Famine of 1932-1933, which is also 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 Government of the Soviet Union 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 ``[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, 
     State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act 
     of 1986 (Public Law 99-180; 99 Stat. 1157), which was enacted 
     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. It is a 
     case of genocide, of destruction, not of individuals only, 
     but of a culture and a nation'';
       Whereas Ukraine's law Number 376-V, ``Law of Ukraine on the 
     Starvation in Ukraine of 1932-1933'', which was enacted on 
     November 28, 2006, gave official recognition to the Holodomor 
     as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people;
       Whereas on October 13, 2006, President George W. Bush 
     signed into law Public Law 109-340, which authorized 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'', and the Holodomor 
     Memorial 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 2022: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) condemns Vladimir Putin's illegal war in Ukraine, and 
     his weaponization of hunger, which has increased global food 
     prices and food insecurity in the world;
       (2) calls upon Vladimir Putin and the Russian Armed Forces 
     to immediately cease their blockade of Ukraine's Black Sea 
     ports to allow all Ukrainian food exports to resume;
       (3) calls attention to the impending global food crisis by 
     observing May 28, 2022 as ``World Hunger Day'';
       (4) solemnly remembers the 90th anniversary of the 
     Holodomor of 1932-1933, and extends its deepest sympathies to 
     the victims, survivors, and families of this tragedy;
       (5) condemns the systematic violations of human rights, 
     including the freedom of self-determination and freedom of 
     speech of the Ukrainian people by the Government of the 
     Soviet Union;
       (6) 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'';
       (7) encourages dissemination of information regarding the 
     Holodomor of 1932-1933 in order to expand the world's 
     knowledge of this manmade tragedy; and
       (8) supports the continuing efforts of the people of 
     Ukraine to defend themselves against Russian aggression, to 
     work toward ensuring democratic principles, a free economy, 
     and full respect for human rights in order to enable Ukraine 
     to achieve its full potential in accord with the desires of 
     the Ukrainian people and to deepen the partnership between 
     Ukraine, the United States, and all democratic nations.

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