UN condemns law on banning UOC

United Nations emblem. Photo: open sources

On December 9, 2025, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) published a report on the human rights situation in Ukraine, in which it criticized legislative changes that create legal grounds for banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).

In previous reports, the OHCHR expressed concerns about legal amendments related to religious organizations, noting they invoke “national security” as a ground for restricting freedom of religion or belief. However, "neither the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights nor the European Convention on Human Rights include 'national security' as a permissible ground for such a restriction," the report highlights.

According to the UN report, a canonical or historical link with a foreign religious center, in and of itself, cannot serve as grounds for banning a religious organization. Measures affecting freedom of religion must be strictly individualized, evidence-based, and comply with the principle of proportionality.

A separate section of the report is devoted to the situation of the UOC. It notes that on July 8, 2025, the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience declared the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC to be affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church and demanded that these ties be severed within 30 days. After the refusal to comply, the agency filed a lawsuit seeking the liquidation of the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC and the seizure of its property. As of November 30, 2025, the case remains under court consideration.

The report also notes that searches, investigative actions, and interrogations at religious institutions continue in Ukraine, and that in a number of cases local authorities have restricted or terminated the activities of religious communities, including by refusing to renew lease agreements for places of worship. In addition, the UN recorded two incidents of violence between Orthodox communities over control of church buildings – on June 17 in the city of Chernivtsi and on August 6 in Zhytomyr region. In one of these cases, a UOC clergyman was injured and hospitalized.

Screenshot of the 'Freedom of religion' section from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights report on the situation of religious rights in Ukraine.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that in Washington, Orthodox Christians from different countries spoke out in support of the UOC.

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