At the instigation of Senator Catryna Bilyk, the following motion was passed in the Australian Senate on 4th December 2013.
That the Senate:
a) notes that 2013 is the eightieth anniversary of Holodomor, an enforced famine in Ukraine caused by the deliberate actions of Stalin’s Communist Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR];
b) recalls that it is estimated up to seven million Ukrainians starved to death as a result of Stalin’s policies in 1932 to 1933 alone;
c) condemns these acts aimed at destroying the national, cultural, religious and democratic aspirations of the Ukrainian people;
d) condemns all similar acts during the twentieth century as the ultimate manifestations of racial, ethnic or religious hatred and violence;
e) honours the memory of those who lost their lives during Holodomor;
f) resolves to annually mark Holodomor on or about the international ‘Holodomor Remembrance Day’, being 24 November;
g) joins the Ukrainian Australian community and the international community in commemorating this tragic milestone; and
h) Recognises the importance of remembering and learning from such dark chapters in human history to ensure that such crimes against humanity are not allowed to be repeated.
