Seán Haughey
Question:234. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if Ireland will recognise the Holodomor of 1932-1933 as genocide against Ukrainians; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35591/21]
View answerThursday, 1 July 2021
Questions (234)
Written answers
Ireland has great sympathy for the suffering of the Ukrainian people during the devastating famine of 1932-33, known as the Holodomor. In view of the enormous effect of famine in the nineteenth century on our own people and subsequent history, the Irish people can empathise deeply with the Ukrainian experience.
The Government has not taken a stance on whether those terrible events should be described as a genocide as we believe we are not in a position to adjudicate on this matter. To reach a conclusion that any events amount to genocide involves the consideration and determination of a number of complex legal issues, and an assessment of the actions and intentions of many parties. Ireland is not in a position to do so with regard to these events.
Ireland follows the practice of recognising genocide only where this has been established by a judgement of an appropriate international court, or where there is international consensus on the matter.
Ireland has joined in United Nations declarations which commemorate this tragedy. In December 2018 Ireland joined a declaration which marked the eighty-fifth anniversary of the Holodomor of 1932–1933 in Ukraine.
That statement commemorated the victims of the Holodmor and recognised that it was a man-made deadly famine. It condemned the Stalinist regime's policies, such as forced collectivization and food requisition, which led to the death of a significant proportion of the Ukrainian people.
It also emphasised that the memories of past horrors and atrocities should reinforce the efforts of the international community to ensure unconditional observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the world.