Yurash: DESS is a guarantor of genuine religious freedom

Andrii Yurash, Head of the Department for Religious Affairs and Nationalities of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine

On May 18, 2019, the Head of the Department for Religious Affairs and Nationalities of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, Andrii Yurash, commented on his Facebook page on the restoration of the State Service for Freedom of Conscience and Ethnopolitics.

The official described the creation of a special body responsible for state policy in the sphere of religion and national minorities as a “fundamental milestone”.

At the same time, he asserted that “all representatives of religious organizations, members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, supported at the Cabinet of Ministers meeting on May 16 the idea of restoring a central authority in the field of religion and ethnopolitics”, despite the fact that “for some time there had been discussions on this issue within the religious sphere”.

“The UOC–MP even several months ago addressed the Cabinet of Ministers with a special letter, attempting to stop the process. The logic of the Orthodox, who continue to seek subordination to Moscow, judging by the letter signed by Metropolitan Onufriy, is quite understandable: in Russia there is no such body, and the relevant functions are de facto performed by the Russian Orthodox Church. So why, then, should Ukraine have a structure that is a guarantor and symbol of a policy of state impartiality and genuine religious freedom?” Yurash wrote.

He also stated that in December 2013 the Council of Europe adopted a special resolution recommending that the Ukrainian government restore the activity of a dedicated central executive authority for religious affairs.

“This is a confident and dignified step that not only opens up new opportunities for a clearer implementation of policies aimed at ensuring genuine religious freedom in Ukrainian society, but also records the indisputable fact that the religious environment duly appreciates the efforts of the current executive authorities to create an atmosphere of trust and partnership with the main actors of state–religious interaction,” the head of the Ministry of Culture’s department stated.

On May 16, 2019, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Rozenko and the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations discussed the creation of a separate, specially authorized central executive body in the sphere of religion and nationalities – the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience. It was proposed that this body’s competence include the formation and implementation of state policy in the sphere of religion, interethnic relations, and the protection of the rights of national minorities.

A state structure regulating activities in the religious sphere was first created in Ukraine in 1965 under Nikita Khrushchev. It was known as the State Committee for Nationalities and Religions. The body existed until 2010, after which it was abolished and its powers were transferred to the Ministry of Culture.

As previously reported, Sviatoslav Yurash – a member of Volodymyr Zelensky’s team and at the same time the son of the well-known persecutor of the UOC, Andrii Yurash – was recently married in the cathedral of Patriarch Bartholomew at the Phanar.

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