Background from Human Rights Watch on her closed churches claim, which is not without an underlying issue but framed for distortion:
Ukraine’s new law banning religious organizations with ties to the Russian Orthodox Church is overly broad and could have far-reaching consequences for Ukrainians’ right to religious freedom.
www.hrw.org
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Ukraine’s new
law banning religious organizations with ties to the
Russian Orthodox Church is overly broad and could have far-reaching consequences for Ukrainians’ right to religious freedom, Human Rights Watch said today. The law could effectively ban congregations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Ukraine’s largest religious body.
The law, adopted August 20, 2024, prohibits the Russian Orthodox Church from operating in Ukraine and bans any religious organization in Ukraine with ties to it or any other religious organizations based in countries “engaged in armed aggression against Ukraine.” It authorizes the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience to identify links between Ukrainian religious organizations andthe Russian Orthodox Church. If found to have links, anorganization would have nine months to sever them,otherwise the agency can petition a court to shut it down.
“Ukrainian authorities understandably want to address state security concerns in the context of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine,” said
Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “But the law interferes with the right to freedom of religion and is so broad that it could violate the rights of Ukrainian Orthodox Church members.”
The Ukrainian government should suspend implementation of the law and request the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional matters, and the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe’s’ Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to provide expert analysis of the law that would be the basis for its rights-respecting revision, Human Rights Watch said.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church was
established in 1990 as an autonomous branch of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leadership supports Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has repeatedly condemned Russia’s war, and in May 2022
took steps to ensure its independence and full autonomy from the Russian Orthodox Church. Yet, in January 2023, the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience found these steps insufficient, stating that the “status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as a structural subdivision of the Russian Orthodox Church... remains unchanged.”
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church exists alongside the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which was
established in 2019 under the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The law does not impact the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. …”
www.euractiv.com
www.euronews.com
