On the Failure of Ukraine’s “Holodomor” Venture in the UN Human Rights Council

PRESS RELEASE

On September 24 Ukraine's delegation in the United Nations Human Rights Council, having received practically no support, was forced to officially withdraw its earlier draft resolution "Memory of the 1932-1933 Holodomor in Ukraine."

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs considers this the only correct move. It seems that the Ukrainian side is also beginning to realize the confrontational nature and futility of its initiative.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reemphasizes that attempts by Ukraine's leadership to establish at the international level its interpretation of the 1932-1933 events on the territory of the former USSR as genocide against the Ukrainian people bear a politicized character and are aimed at sowing discord between the brother peoples of Russia and Ukraine. We regard the political speculations of Kyiv on the memory of the millions of victims of the tragedy that befell the peoples of the former Soviet Union as blasphemy.

In the UN Human Rights Council and General Assembly Russia has pursued and will continue to pursue a line on preventing the injection into the agenda of confrontational themes and subjects that have nothing in common with the encouragement and protection of human rights and are aimed at achieving conjunctural political advantages.

The UN Human Rights Council and the UN as a whole are not a place for pushing through one-sided and distorted assessments of historical events. History should be left to the historians, and the UN should concern itself with its direct responsibilities – the maintenance of international peace and security, development assistance and the reinforcement of the regime of encouragement and protection of human rights in the world.

September 24, 2008