Ministry of Culture tries to justify itself before UN for violations of the rights of UOC, – expert

The head of the NGO "Public Advocacy", Oleg Denisov, refuted the statement of the director of the Department for Religious and Minority Affairs of the Ministry of Culture Andrei Yurash that the UN Human Rights Council has no complaints against Ukraine about the violation of the rights of UOC believers. This is reported by the Information and Education Department of the UOC.

The corresponding comment of the official of the Ministry of Culture was published on November 17 on the site of the RISU.

The human rights defender stressed that several documents containing information on the violation of the rights of UOC believers, including the official report of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (para 41) were included in the official package of materials of the 28th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Oleg Denisov recalled that the Greek delegation had indicated to Ukraine the need to "take additional measures" to observe the autonomy of religious organizations. The statement was caused by resonant facts of violations of the rights of the UOC faithful, which caused concern of the European community. In his speech, a Greek representative explained that Ukrainian officials talk about "transfers" of religious communities in cases when the believers of the UOC were brutally expelled from their churches with the use of threats and force.

According to the human rights activist, the official of the Ministry of Culture "arbitrarily" interprets the UN session and tries to justify his position, as violations of the rights of UOC believers have already received too much international resonance. "Instead of groundless justifications, Mr. Yurash should carefully fulfill his duties and ensure the implementation of the recommendations of the international community and human rights organizations," Denisov said.

According to the director of the human rights organization, Andrei Yurash's statements in the media about "anti-Ukrainian propaganda" are an attempt "to restrict freedom of speech and human rights activities, which is a gross violation of international law and the national strategy for the development of civil society in Ukraine."