UOC comments on MFA statement on observance of believers’ rights in Ukraine

Logo of the UOC Representation to European International Organizations. Photo: UOC

On June 11, 2019, the UOC Representation Office to European International Organizations published a feedback commentary regarding the response of the Foreign Ministry to the communicattion from the UN Special Rapporteurs, which states that the rights of the UOC believers are not violated in Ukraine.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, through its Permanent Mission of Ukraine at the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva, sent a reply on May 20, 2019, with a five-month delay.

However, the UOC considers the very fact of the response to be “indicative”, since “for the first time, the central government authority has officially responded to the problems of violation of the UOC believers’ rights and expressed its position at the international level in writing, although this document leaves many questions”.

“It should be noted that an official response of the authorized body of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on the facts of violations of the UOC believers’ rights, which are well-known to the international community, clearly contrasts with the 'hate speech' rhetoric of many Ukrainian officials, members of the public and journalists during 2014-2018," the comments say.

The UOC reminded: “The document states that the All-Ukrainian Cross Procession took place ‘peacefully and without disturbing public order’, but everyone remembers the fact that UOC believers were not allowed to participate in the religious procession in Odessa, which is confirmed by the official press service of Odessa Eparchy; as well as the attempts to block the procession in Zaporozhye, where 16 buses with believers were detained under various flimsy pretexts.”

“At the same time, the message of the authorized body of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on the case of the UOC religious community in Ptichya village of Rovno region remains unclear. The document informs the UN representatives that an arrest has been imposed on the building of the temple, but it is not specified who initiated it. Recall that the arrest was imposed by the court at the request of the investigating authorities in the framework of artificially violated and politically motivated criminal proceedings. Thus, there was a blockage of the temple, owned by the religious community of the UOC. When asked why the authorities kept the property of the religious community under arrest for more than one and a half years, the answer was never given,” the commentary underlines.

The UOC believes that “the authors of the document do not have any living material on the case of Katerinovka village of Ternopol region, where Orthodox believers were brutally beaten by security forces, although special rapporteurs of the UN and other international legal structures were provided with the relevant documented information.

Particularly expressive are the reports of the Ukrainian side that in the villages of Kotiuzhiny of Zbarazh district, Katerinovka and Kolosovaya of Kremenets district, Ternopol region, the UOC believers had their temples built. The context of the document looks as if it was done by the state, but in reality these worship buildings were erected by the believers themselves amid obvious resistance from local authorities, because the temples were built on private land, i.e. local governments could not even allocate land for these new temples,” explains the UOC Representation to European International Organizations.

The priests note: the statements of the Foreign Ministry officials that the conflicts in the villages of Ternopol region “in 2014-2017 were eventuated mainly by the socio-political situation, the position of a certain part of the UOC clergy on events in the east of Ukraine and certain loopholes in the organization of the eparchial management”, because “the head of the eparchy practically does not participate in any events, organized by religious communities or local self-government bodies for seeking dialogue and compromise solutions” are unethical and false.

“It seems that the authors of the official document didn’t even try to understand the situation objectively, since starting from 2015, it was Metropolitan Sergiy and his authorized representatives who had meetings not only with local self-government officials, but also with representatives of the OSCE, which were regularly held in Ternopol eparchy,” noted the UOC. It is also emphasized that “it was in Ternopol region that, at the initiative of the OSCE and with the blessing of the eparchial bishop, an attempt was made to initiate a dialogue between representatives of the UOC, UOC KP and UAOC, which continued in an agreed format between all parties to the conflicts. But despite all the efforts made, the regional authorities were not able or unwilling to enforce the law in those conflict situations where violations of the rights of believers of the UOC were evident.”

The priests summarize: the response of the Foreign Ministry “once again indicates that factual information about the systematic violation of the rights of believing citizens of the UOC has become known at a high international level. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church leaves no hope that the identified problems will be addressed at the earliest convenience, and state agents of Ukraine will not have new reasons in the future to respond to the inquiries of the international community.”

As the UOJ reported, in response to a UN request for violations of the UOC believers’ rights, MFA stated that all transitions to the OCU are legitimate, while “ideological split” of believers is caused by “military aggression”. On May 20, 2019, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, through its Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva, responded to the communication of the UN Special Rapporteurs on issues related to the violation of the rights of believers of the UOC in 2014-2018. The response was sent with a delay of almost 5 months.

On September 30, 2018, a group of UN Special Rapporteurs appealed to the authorized state bodies of Ukraine with an information request regarding violations of the rights of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In the information request to the state of Ukraine, questions were raised about a series of acts of violence that contradict the internationally recognized right to freedom of religion or belief. The request is about the following violations: “the attack and seizure of places of worship belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), acts of intimidation and persecution, disruption of the All-Ukrainian religious procession, and violations against peaceful believers”.

The UN Special Rapporteurs expressed in their request “serious concerns about the statements of believers, who, when confirmed, constitute a model being officially sanctioned, by act or omission, of violations of the internationally recognized rights to human life and security, freedom of expression, peaceful assemblies, religious freedoms or beliefs, as provided for in Articles 6, 9, 18, 19 and 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).”

In turn, the head of the UOC Representative Office to European International Organizations, Bishop Victor (Kotsaba) of Baryshevka sent an appeal to officials of the UN, OSCE, EU and other countries in connection with the facts of large-scale violations of human rights in Ukraine and the real threat of escalation of religious conflicts.

Read also