USCIRF comments on the situation in Ukraine

Logo of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Photo: USCIRF's website

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has released its 2024 annual report on the state of religious freedom around the world.

The report notes that “In August, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky signed into law new legal amendments related to the activities of religious organizations, despite widespread concerns about the amendments’ compatibility with international law.”

According to commission members, the new law “ bans the Russian Orthodox Church—which only operates in Russian-occupied Ukraine—and “Russian world” (Russky mir) ideology.'”

“The amendments would likely significantly impact the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which Ukrainian authorities and society have viewed with suspicion following Russia’s 2022 invasion, due to the UOC’s historical and ecclesiastical ties to the Moscow Patriarchate. Furthermore, the new amendments risk imposing collective punishment on individual members of religious communities,” the report states.

Commission members also recalled that in December 2024, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) criticized the amendments, stating that they impose “disproportionate restrictions on the freedom to manifest one’s religion or belief”. USCIRF urged the Ukrainian government to ensure that implementation of the amendments aligns with international human rights standards.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that, according to a report by the OHCHR dated December 31, 2024, Ukraine had failed to justify the necessity and proportionality of measures aimed at dissolving religious organizations, including the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

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