OIDAC Europe Report: Religious freedom of the UOC is violated in Ukraine

Beating of a priest by OCU militants near the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Chernivtsi. Photo: UOJ

The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe) has published its annual 2025 report, “Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe,” which contains a dedicated section on the situation surrounding the UOC in Ukraine. OIDAC Europe is a respected international NGO headquartered in Vienna (Austria) that has systematically monitored violations of Christian religious freedom across Europe since 2010. Its database lists more than 6,000 documented cases.

According to the report, in August 2024 Ukraine adopted legislation allowing courts to dissolve the Ukrainian Orthodox Church if it fails to sever ties with Russia.

The OIDAC Europe report cites reactions from international institutions. In October 2025, UN experts, including the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, expressed “serious concern about reports of ongoing persecution of the UOC in Ukraine,” warning that government actions curtail “the freedom of worship and religious practice.”

The report also highlights criticism from human-rights organizations directed at the Ukrainian government. Chief among these concerns is the authorities’ refusal to acknowledge the UOC’s 27 May 2022 declaration of full independence from the Moscow Patriarchate. In addition, experts raised alarms over the lack of ecclesiological competence within the HESS commission that conducted the investigation into alleged ties between the UOC and the Russian Orthodox Church.

The report is based on official police statistics from European countries, OSCE/ODIHR hate-crime data, information from local civil-society organizations, and OIDAC Europe’s own research. The first part of the document focuses on anti-Christian hate crimes and social hostility in Europe in 2024. The second part records legal restrictions affecting Christian religious freedom during 2024–2025 – and it is in this second section that the chapter on the UOC appears.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that in the U.S., a delegation of Orthodox Churches met with a member of Congress to discuss the protection of the UOC.

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