In Chernigov, “S14” discusses with OSCE transfer of UOC communities to OCU

A meeting between representatives of the OSCE SMM and the S14 coordinator in the Chernigov region on March 19, 2019

A meeting between representatives of the OSCE SMM and the S14 coordinator in the Chernigov region took place on March 19, 2019, as the radicals reported on their Facebook page. After a short time, the post was deleted.

The activists said that in the course of communication with international observers, they discussed “urgent problems that arise during the transfer of communities” from the UOC to the OCU, “with respect to preventing physical confrontation and inciting inter-faith conflicts”.

S14 also said that the observers "were surprised by the real activity and history of the creation of the S14 branch in the Chernigov region since it differs significantly from the reports given by their colleagues from Russia and Belarus."

“Having analyzed the work of the organization in detail, the OSCE members did not find a single fact of terrorism or extremism, and thus refuted the rumors and speculations that are being disseminated in relation to the organization in order to discredit it”, S14 boasted and declared that the meeting resulted in “an agreement on cooperation in the international context of the protection of human rights".

At the request of the UOJ, the OSCE representatives commented on this meeting.

“We confirm that on March 19, 2019, a meeting was held between representatives of the OSCE SMM and the organization “S14”. In accordance with its mandate, the SMM collects information and reports on the security situation throughout Ukraine and also facilitates the establishment of a dialogue. The mission is not authorized to make any value judgments.

All our relevant observations are reflected in the daily reports of the SMM, which are available to the general public on the OSCE website in three languages (English, Ukrainian and Russian),” says the commentary of the OSCE SMM press service.

As the UOJ reported, on March 19, 2019, Metropolitan Ambrose of Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversky discussed with representatives of the OSCE SMM the religious situation in the Chernigov region, including numerous facts of non-observance of the rights of believers of the Chernigov Eparchy, cases of raider seizures of temples and slander campaigns against the clergy and believers launched by the OCU adherents.

We recall that the group of UN Special Rapporteurs, who on September 30, 2018, applied to the authorized state bodies of Ukraine with an information request on the violation of the rights of the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, did not receive a response within a legal timeframe. The UOC Representative Office to European International Organizations regards this as an attempt to hide the real situation with the discrimination of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Also, the UN human rights defenders expressed serious concern over the harassment of the UOJ journalists, who publish information on violations of the rights of believers of the UOC.

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