Proposals to ensure religious rights in quarantine submitted to government

The building of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Photo: thumbor.my.ua

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine received a number of proposals aimed at ensuring freedom of religion in the conditions of coronavirus quarantine. The proposals were formulated following an online meeting of the participants of the Round Table, jointly organized by the Institute of Religious Freedom and the Centre for Civil Liberties, reports ReligiousFreedom.in.ua.

The meeting was attended by religious leaders of different denominations of Ukraine, the leadership of the Kharkiv Human Rights Group and the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union.

Human rights activists explained to the participants of the discussion the legal aspects of quarantine restrictions and gave a number of practical recommendations on how to protect the rights of believers violated by police actions that do not comply with the law.

Following the discussion, the participants in the Round Table on Religious Freedom in Ukraine made the following proposals to the Ukrainian government:

1. When organizing services during the quarantine period, follow the recommendations to avoid crowding in churches and other premises of religious organizations published on April 8 by the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (i.e. up to 10 people are allowed to be in a church or other premises of a religious organization, 1 person per 5 sq. m.);
2. The requirement of self-isolation for people aged 60 and over does not apply to the clergy and people involved in organizing services, as well as to other working people of retirement age;
3. Given the ban on access of priests to prisoners and convicts, introduced by the order of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, instruct the administration of pre-trial detention centres and penitentiary institutions, provide the possibility of television viewing of divine services and religious sermons, which are regularly aired by the Public Broadcaster on TV channels UA: PERSHIY and UA: CULTURE, as well as an option for prisoners and convicts to organize for them individual remote meetings with a chaplain priest via video link;
4. Provide the opportunity to meet the religious needs of people in social welfare and palliative care institutions, including through access to them of chaplain priests or individual remote meetings with them via video link;
5. Recommend that local authorities, together with religious figures and volunteers, organize places and procedures for providing free humanitarian aid to people in need, in particular providing food to people without a permanent residence, while observing sanitary and quarantine requirements and preventing crowding.

As reported earlier, the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations suggested the authorities ways to protect the rights of believers during the quarantine period.

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