UCC National | 14Oct2008 | Communique
Abuse
of human rights in Russia condemned
International Remembrance Flame
Stopped With Scare Tactics
Winnipeg, October 14, 2008- The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC)
condemns the recent and blatant abuse of human rights by the Russian
government which has banned events planned in Russia to commemorate the
75th anniversary of the Holodomor - famine genocide in Ukraine of
1932-33.
Prior to the arrival of the International Remembrance Flame in Russia,
the Ukrainian Embassy received notice on October 6 from Russia's
Foreign Ministry that commemorative events must fall in line with the
Russian position on the famine or be cancelled.
Russia continues to claim that the Holodomor was not a genocide and
that Ukraine's effort to secure such recognition is "a political matter
that is aimed against Russian interests."
It has been confirmed by the Ukrainian World Congress that Ukrainian
community activists in Orenburg, Tumen, Ufa, St. Petersburg and
Krasnodar have been subjected to undue pressure and scare tactics by
government officials in the region resulting in the cancellation of
planned events.
Russia was the next scheduled stop on the itinerary of the
International Remembrance Flame - a symbol which has traveled through
29 countries since April of this year. Events in conjunction
with the arrival of the Flame honour the millions of victims of
Stalin's deliberate attempt to eradicate the Ukrainian nation through
starvation. The Flame will be received in Ukraine in November
for nation-wide commemorations.
"The Ukrainian Canadian community is appalled by Russia's continuing
disregard for basic human rights, among them freedom of speech and
expression," stated Iryna Mycak, Chair of UCC's National Holodomor
Commemoration Committee. "Russia must understand that Canada
will not tolerate such actions which clearly demonstrate that the
country has not shed its past. It willingly continues the
tactics of intolerance and oppression that were used by its predecessor
regime that also perpetrated of the horrific crime of the Holodomor."
"What is especially appalling is that the international
community, including Canada, has recognized the Holodomor as a
genocide, yet Russia still cannot come to terms with this dark part of
Soviet History," stated Paul Grod, National UCC President.
The UCC urges every Canadian to join in this protest. The
international community stood idly by in the thirties as 10 million
Ukrainians were brutally murdered for simply being Ukrainian.
Let's not repeat the same apathy 75 years later. Contact the
Russian Embassy and write to your Member of Parliament and to the Prime
Minister of Canada. Let them know that such human rights
abuses in 2008 will not be tolerated. Let them know that,
this time, the world is paying attention.
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