UN expresses concerns over persecution and intimidation of UOC believers

United Nations Office in Geneva. Photo: Kim Petersen

On January 29, 2024, the official response of the permanent mission of Ukraine to the UN and other international organizations was published regarding the statement by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Rights, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Peaceful Assembly and Association, regarding violations of the rights of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). This was reported by the human rights website Public Advocacy.

Lawyers indicate that the UN report on violations of UOC rights was prepared "by three UN Special Rapporteurs after studying appeals from believers and religious organizations, statements from our and other human rights organizations during the 52-54 sessions of the UN Human Rights Council, the personal speech of Metropolitan Theodosiy (Snigirev) of Cherkasy and Kaniv during the consideration of the report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Ukraine, as well as written appeals from the leaders of several UOC dioceses to international structures."

"As a result of considering the above evidence and facts, the UN Special Rapporteurs in their communication to the government of Ukraine noted (quotes from the text of the communication statement of UN Special Rapporteurs – the facts that caused their concern):

1. On April 1, 2023, one of the hierarchs of the UOC received a notice of suspicion from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) under Articles 161 and 436-2 - incitement of interreligious enmity and justification of Russian aggression, and a search was conducted at his residence. In another case, on August 7, 2023, a well-known religious figure was sentenced to five years in prison with the confiscation of property for numerous crimes related to the conflict (under Articles 109, 110, 161, and 436-2). Currently, he is under house arrest while the sentence is being appealed in the appellate instance.
2. On August 9, 2023, the Economic Court of Kyiv upheld the decision to terminate the agreement from 2013, which officially designated and allowed the UOC to use part of the premises as a monastery free of charge. The court also noted that the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra is a state religious structure. In accordance with this decision, on August 10, 2023, state authorities overseeing the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra announced that the court also ruled that the transfer of cultural heritage objects and relics from the monastery should be completed by the end of the year by the UOC.
3. These restrictive measures and the subsequent cases of incitement of hatred and incitement to violence against believers and the monastic community of the UOC arose against the background of statements, including by Ukrainian authorities, that the UOC has not declared itself canonically independent from other Orthodox communities, in particular, from the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC)...
4. After the events related to the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, in several regions, predominantly in western regions of Ukraine, a noticeable increase in cases of incitement of hatred and calls to violence against UOC believers was recorded. For example, on March 28, 2023, unknown individuals forcibly broke into the remaining UOC church in Ivano-Frankivsk. Tear gas was dispersed during the attack, believers and clergy were forcibly removed from the building. From February 1 to July 31, 2023, several dozen cases of physical violence and several cases of threats of violence were recorded as a result of conflicts between parishioners of various Orthodox communities. On April 4, 2023, the Khmelnytsky City Council decided to terminate all agreements on the use of municipal land by the UOC. Later on the same day, the Khmelnytsky Oblast Council made a similar decision, prohibiting the UOC throughout the region. Several city and regional councils also banned the "activities of the UOC" in their areas.
5. Since November 2022, the SBU conducted searches in several monasteries, offices, educational institutions, and other premises of the UOC in Kyiv, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Dnipropetrovsk, Khmelnytsky, Cherkasy, Volyn, Kherson, Ternopil, Poltava, and Zakarpattia regions. In December 2022, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine imposed personal sanctions against seven members of the UOC leadership. These sanctions included blocking personal accounts, revocation of licenses and permits, prohibition of lease and acquisition of state property, as well as withdrawal of awards and acknowledgments issued by the state."

In the concluding part of their communication statement, UN Special Rapporteurs stated:

"We want to express our concern about the alleged pattern of persecution against the UOC and its believers, which appears to be linked to the lawful and peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression, and freedom of association, as enshrined in Articles 18, 19, and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), ratified by the state of Ukraine in 1973.

In particular, we are concerned about this pattern of intimidation, as evidenced by the aforementioned accusations against the UOC monastic community and believers with the aim of altering their religious affiliation. This contradicts the prohibition of coercion, as stipulated in Article 18 of the ICCPR. We are also concerned about the retaliatory response (related to calls for violence and administrative sanctions imposed on the UOC as a whole) that UOC believers may face, effectively limiting their right to profess their religion."

"Public Advocacy" writes that "the text of the UN Special Rapporteurs' communication statement indicates the international recognition of facts of UOC rights violations through the implementation of a systematic policy of discrimination against this denomination and the restriction of the rights of its hierarchy and believers."

At the same time, lawyers note that the "response from the permanent mission of Ukraine to the UN and other international organizations No. 38/017 of January 22, 2024, provided on behalf of the state of Ukraine to the UN Special Rapporteurs, is incomplete and, in several points, contains, in our view, inaccurate information."

Human rights defenders have observed that the UOC "confirmed its ability to convey information about violations of the rights of its believers at the international level." However, according to them, the UN is "aware of the entire spectrum of violations of the rights of believers, and they consider the mass termination of the rights of religious organizations to land by decisions of local authorities, the initiation of criminal cases against religious leaders, the imposition of sanctions on them, the deprivation of the right to use churches, and their forcible seizures, as well as the rhetoric of hatred towards the UOC and its believers, as part of a systemic policy of coercing UOC believers to change their denominational affiliation, which is undoubtedly a violation of international law and is an obvious fact."

"Religious organizations of the UOC currently have the opportunity to present their objections and additional arguments in the process of international protection of their rights, especially based on the content of the response provided by the government of Ukraine to the UN international communication request or in the format of individual statements addressed directly to the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, as well as to the UN Human Rights Council," wrote human rights defenders.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the Ombudsman accused the UN High Commissioner of lying.

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