MFA responds to UN criticism of Ukraine’s religious policy: Accusations distort reality
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine rejects the conclusions of the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the "insufficient justification" for the dissolution of religious organizations, in particular the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
This is stated in the commentary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Censor.NET reports.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has read the 41st periodic report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, published on December 31, 2024. We reject the UN's conclusions regarding the amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Field of Activities of Religious Organizations" as distorting reality," the MFA said.
The ministry emphasizes that the law mentioned in the report does not provide for the prohibition of any of the existing churches in Ukraine. It only does not allow for the subordination of religious organizations in Ukraine to governing centers from Russia.
The ministry also reminded that it is Russia that commits crimes against religious freedoms during the "war of aggression": killing believers and religious leaders, destroying religious buildings, persecuting religious communities that do not belong to the Russian Orthodox Church in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
Russia systematically uses religion as a weapon in its war of aggression against Ukraine. The Russian state, through its controlled ROC, sanctifies atrocities against Ukrainians and praises the criminals who commit them. In this context, the Ukrainian state has a duty to protect its citizens from the destructive influence of the aggressor state, in particular through the use of religious organizations that are fused with the state in the Russian Federation and clearly proclaimed their goal to destroy Ukrainian statehood, culture, and identity," the Foreign Ministry said.
The foreign ministry adds that such a law is extremely necessary in a democratic society and removes believers from the pressure of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is "an ideological continuation of the criminal regime," as emphasized in the PACE resolution.
"We expect that in its reports, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission will continue to provide objective assessments of the real situation with freedom of religion in Ukraine and will continue to record Russian crimes against Ukrainian believers, religious communities and leaders, church property," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry summarized.
Earlier it was reported that the UN criticized Ukraine for allegedly not providing "sufficient justification" for the dissolution of religious organizations, including the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
