BILL ANALYSIS

Senate Research Center	S.C.R. 16
88R40 BHH-D	By: Parker
	Administration
	3/27/2023
	As Filed

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

S.C.R 16 designates November as Ukrainian Genocide Remembrance Month for a 10-year period beginning in 2023.

Each November, individuals around the globe mark the somber anniversary of the Holodomor, the brutal and systematic starvation inflicted on the Ukrainian people by Joseph Stalin's Soviet regime in 1932 and 1933, an atrocity that resulted in the deaths of millions of people.

In the years following the formation of the Soviet Union, political and ethnic tensions remained high in Ukraine, and a series of independence movements and revolts occurred throughout the 1920s, threatening Soviet rule. In response, the Stalinist government sought to erode the Ukrainian national identity and quash any resistance.

Beginning in 1932, an artificial famine was created when Soviet officials greatly increased farm quotas and confiscated livestock, grain, and other crops. Residents were confined to the region and purposefully left to starve, even as the Soviets continued to export locally grown grain to other areas. In addition, Ukrainian intellectual, cultural, and religious leaders were targeted for arrest and execution.

While estimates vary, it is thought that between 3.5 and 10 million Ukrainians perished in the Holodomor, a term meaning "murder by starvation." Moreover, those who spoke out about the true nature of the famine were prosecuted or executed.

The Holodomor has been recognized as an act of genocide by the United States Senate and the U.S. Commission on the Ukrainian Famine, as well as by legislative bodies in Australia, Canada, Mexico, Poland, and numerous other nations.

With the threat of genocide and tyranny still present in our world, this horrific episode in human history offers warnings that remain strikingly relevant, and it is incumbent upon the global community to learn from the past in order to prevent similar atrocities from occurring in the future.

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RESOLVED

That the 88th Legislature of the State of Texas hereby designate the month of November as Ukrainian Genocide Remembrance Month and urge the state's residents to reflect on the Holodomor and honor the memory of those who perished.

That, in accordance with the provisions of Section 391.004(d), Government Code, this designation remain in effect until the 10th anniversary of the date this resolution is finally passed by the legislature.