UN criticises Ukraine’s religious policy: allegedly failed to prove legality of UOC-MP ban
The UN criticises Ukraine for allegedly not providing "sufficient justification" for the dissolution of religious organisations, including the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
According to Censor.NET, this is stated in the report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of 31 December.
The response states that the Ukrainian authorities have imposed "disproportionate restrictions on the freedom to manifest one’s religion or belief": there is no "sufficient justification" for the dissolution of religious organisations.
"The dissolution of a religious organization is a severe restriction that affects the ability of individuals to practice their religion or belief together with others and threatens the viability of the community as a whole.
Ukraine has not demonstrated the necessity and proportionality of this measure," the UN report says.
The report points out that the law passed by the Rada and signed by Zelenskyy allows for the liquidation of religious communities on vague grounds that "do not give fair notice of what the law requires" and lead to the entire religious community being held responsible for the actions of individuals.
"The overbroad and ambiguous formulation may put in jeopardy the right to freedom of expression," the document says.
In addition, according to the UN, the law introduces the seizure of property from the Moscow Patriarchate before it can appeal the court's decision to liquidate it.
"Since the State owns and leases out historic church buildings across Ukraine, this may result in religious organizations losing access to these premises," the report says.
The UN concluded that there have been cases where church buildings have been closed and made inaccessible to the community after lease agreements were cancelled.
The report includes the scandal of the seizure of the UOC-MP church in Cherkasy in October. It is stated that the parishioners of the church were injured, and the police "did not appear to effectively separate supporters of different communities".
As reported, on 24 August, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law banning the activities of religious organisations associated with the Russian Federation in Ukraine.
