Ukrainian Foreign Ministry rebukes UN for its report on UOC ban law

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). Photo: slovoidilo

"We reject the UN's conclusions on the amendments to the Law of Ukraine 'On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Field of Activities of Religious Organizations' as a distortion of reality," the Ukrainian MFA stated in its commentary. The Ministry criticised the report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) dated 31 December 2024.

In its report, the UN High Commissioner highlighted the fact that Ukraine had failed to justify the necessity and proportionality of measures aimed at dissolving religious organisations, including the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).

Ukraine's MFA assured that the law mentioned in the report "does not provide for the prohibition of any of the churches that exist in Ukraine." Officials once again cited provisions of the law, which the UN described as "vague".

According to Ukrainian diplomats, this law is essential in a democratic society and provides for a democratic procedure where the final decision rests with the courts. They asserted that the law "does not impose a burden on the conscience of believers, but only relieves them from the pressure exerted by the Russian Orthodox Church, which, as the PACE resolution emphasized, 'represents an ideological extension of the criminal regime.'"

The MFA also reminded readers that, as a result of Russian military shelling, religious buildings and holy sites are being destroyed across Ukraine. However, they omitted the fact that most of these belong to the UOC. They also highlighted other crimes against religious freedoms, "notably the deliberate killing of worshippers and religious leaders, the destruction of religious buildings and holy sites throughout Ukraine, and the persecution of non-Russian Orthodox religious communities in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine."

In its statement, the Ministry focused on Russia's and the Russian Orthodox Church's actions, completely ignoring the situation in Ukraine, including the assault on UOC believers in Cherkasy, which had been highlighted by international human rights organisations.

"We expect that the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission will continue to provide objective assessments of the actual situation on freedom of religion in Ukraine in its reports and will persist in documenting Russian crimes against Ukrainian believers, religious communities and leaders, as well as church property," the Ukrainian MFA concluded.

As reported by the UOJ, the UN believes that Ukraine has not substantiated the legality of banning the UOC.

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