New York City, January 2, 2025
Photo: dzen.ru
Ukraine has failed to demonstrate the necessity of the law it adopted in August to ban the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, says the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The UN has repeatedly sounded the alarm about the persecution of the UOC and the violent church seizures that take place across the country. In its new report covering the period from September 1 to November 30, the UN specifically addresses the vagueness and baselessness of the aforementioned law. Though the bill speaks of banning those religious organizations that are centered in Russia, Ukrainian MPs and politicians openly proclaim that they in fact intend to ban the Kiev-centered Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The Local Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church voted to separate itself from the Moscow Patriarchate already in May 2022, as reflected in the Church’s updated statutes [full text of the statutes available here], though the Ukrainian state continues to brand it as a Russian Church as a justification for its persecution of the Church.
The new UN report notes that the Ukrainian law invokes “national (or public) security” as a ground for restrictions on religious freedom, but “neither the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) nor the European Convention on Human Rights include ‘national security’ among the permissible grounds for such a restriction.”
Further:
The amendments … specifically prohibit the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church. Furthermore, if a court finds that a Ukrainian religious organization is affiliated with a prohibited foreign religious organization, it could order the Ukrainian religious organization’s dissolution. There is concern that once this provision is implemented, it may impact the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).
The dissolution of a religious organization is a severe restriction that affects the ability of individuals to practice their religion or belief together with others and threatens the viability of the community as a whole, which requires very serious reasons by way of justification.
And despite adopting such radical legislation, Ukraine has failed to make the case for it, the UN explains:
Ukraine has not demonstrated the necessity and proportionality of this measure, such as by showing why less restrictive measures, such as measures restricted specifically to individuals responsible for wrongdoing, would not be satisfactory and sufficient.
The law’s vague wording and failure to clearly explain what it requires “can result in entire religious communities being held responsible for the conduct of specific individuals. Furthermore, the overbroad and ambiguous formulation may put in jeopardy the right to freedom of expression.”
The report also critiques the practice throughout Ukraine of canceling UOC leases to use church properties, “which, particularly in communities with few churches, may limit exercise of freedom of worship and contribute to social tensions.”
Lastly, the report details the violent seizure of the Archangel Michael Cathedral in Cherkasy on October 17, during which “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” thugs put several Orthodox Christians in the hospital, including His Eminence Metropolitan Theodosy. The UN report notes that the police largely stood idly by.
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