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.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that in Washington, Orthodox Christians from different countries spoke out in support of the UOC.
Read also
Sand for construction of Yermak’s residence brought from cemetery, MP says
MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak said that sand illegally removed from a cemetery in Ukrainka was used in the construction of the elite Dynasty cooperative in Kozyn.
Italian court recognizes family with three parents as legal
In Bari, the appellate court ordered authorities to register an adoption according to which a child is listed as having two "fathers" and one mother.
Archaeologists discover biblical Bethsaida on shore of Sea of Galilee
Researchers have discovered a first-century residential house beneath the apse of a Byzantine church and a mosaic inscription mentioning the Apostle Peter.
Israeli soldiers receive jail terms for mocking statue of the Virgin Mary
Those involved in the act of sacrilege in the village of Debel will spend several weeks behind bars for desecrating a statue of the Mother of God.
Serbian Church officially receives back land of 15th-century monastery
An agreement was signed in Belgrade transferring the territory of the ancient Vojlovica Monastery to the Banat Eparchy.
Pat Daniel comments on conflict between Phanar bishop and community in Turkey
The Bulgarian Primate believes that the hierarch of the Constantinople Patriarchate should not have forced the Bulgarian community in Edirne to serve in Greek.