Iryna Heraschenko informed that on September 6, 2016, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine decided to hold parliamentary hearings entitled "75th Anniversary of Babyn Yar Tragedy: Lessons of History and Nowadays."
She noted that the parliamentary hearings take place at the top interstate level. In particular, she stressed that President Petro Poroshenko and President of the State of Israel Reuven Rivlin would join the hearings.
Iryna Heraschenko also said that the participants in the parliamentary hearings were members of the Ukrainian Government, clergymen, diplomats, members of the Ukrainian Parliament, representatives of national societies, representatives of the Diaspora, foreign guests, human rights activists, scientists and Holocaust investigators.
The participants in the event commemorated victims of the Babyn Yar tragedy with a moment of silence.
The attendees heard the report of First Deputy Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Culture and Spirituality, Iryna Podoliak.
Chair of the Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and Interethnic Relations, Hryhorii Nemyria, also took floor within the framework of the parliamentary hearings.
He noted that the fight against all forms of racial and ethnic hatred, anti-Semitism, xenophobia and discrimination must always be of priority in the state's policy.
The participants in the hearings noted that Babyn Yar is a place to commemorate the victims of the nazism, who were Ukrainians, Jews, Roma people and many others. Between 1941 and late 1943, this place was the site of permanent executions and burials conducted by the occupation authorities of the city of Kyiv. Approximate number of the tragedy victims was 100,000, of them over than two thirds were Jews.
The speakers at the hearings drew particular attention to the fact that the victims of the Babyn Yar also were prisoners of war, members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, civilians of different political views, religions and nationalities.
Besides, the attendees noted that Ukraine was the first country in the post-Soviet space to put the issue of Holocaust history on the state programs for educational establishments.
The participants in the hearings emphasized that the Ukrainian society should learn the lessons of Holocaust and other genocides.
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Andriy Parubiy, took floor with closing remarks.