The PACE Committee recognized the Russian Federation’s erasure of Ukrainian cultural identity as an element of genocide

The Committee on Culture of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) recognized the erasure of Ukrainian cultural identity as a tool of Russia’s war against Ukraine and an element of genocidal policy aimed at destroying the Ukrainian nation.

This was reported by Yevgenia Kravchuk, a member of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE.

Kravchuk noted that the PACE Culture Committee in Copenhagen unanimously supported her resolution “Combating the destruction of cultural identity during war and peace.”

PACE will consider the adoption of the resolution at its June session. Among the key provisions of the document:

ensure full compensation for damages based on international law and guarantee non-repetition of destruction;

raise awareness of how propaganda, colonial and neo-colonial practices, in particular the ideology of “Russian world”, can create grounds for violations of international law, in particular regarding cultural heritage;

provide for sanctions against all those who carry out or facilitate the illegal transfer or trade of artifacts, carry out illegal excavations or use artifacts for their own purposes (exhibitions, auctions, scientific publications), and also ensure that the authorities and involved state institutions are held accountable.

The resolution asserts that Russia uses cultural “purges” as a tool of war to deny the existence of other cultural identities and erase historical roots, values, heritage, literature, traditions and language.

Such actions are war crimes and crimes against humanity and testify to a specific genocidal intent to destroy the Ukrainian nation or at least part of it, in particular by destroying Ukrainian identity and culture, Kravchuk noted. This is part of the genocidal campaign that Russia is conducting against the Ukrainian people, the deputy added.

Kravchuk illustrated her speech in the committee with a book by the writer Volodymyr Vakulenko, which was published by the Vivat publishing house, whose printing house in Kharkiv was destroyed by a Russian missile strike. Volodymyr Vakulenko was killed by the Russian military. As a result of the rocket attack, the writer Victoria Amelina, who found Vakulenko’s diary during the occupation and wrote the foreword to the book, also died.

“This tragic story. The ‘new shot dead revival’ is what my resolution is about. It’s about how to preserve what Russia is trying to destroy, kill and erase. It’s about Ukrainian culture, our heritage and identity,” Kravchuk commented.