MFA Ukraine rejects UN’s false accusations of alleged restrictions on religious freedoms

This is stated in the commentary by MFA Ukraine, Ukrinform reports.

“We reject the UN’s conclusions on amendments to the Law of Ukraine on Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Activities of Religious Organizations as the ones distorting reality,” it emphasized.

The ministry emphasized that the law mentioned in the report does lay down a ban on any of the churches existing in Ukraine. It only does not allow the subordination of religious organizations in Ukraine to the decision-making centers located in a state that has committed or is committing armed aggression against Ukraine and/or temporarily occupied part of its territory, as well as religious organizations that support armed aggression against Ukraine.

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reminded the UN that Russia systematically weaponizes religion in its war of aggression against Ukraine and, through the Russian Orthodox Church that it contrs, sanctifies atrocities against Ukrainians and praises the criminals committing them. In this context, the Ukrainian state has a duty to protect its citizens from the destructive influence of the aggressor state, including with the use of religious organizations that in Russia are intertwined with the government and have directly declared their goal to destroy Ukrainian statehood, culture, and identity, the ministry added.

According to the ministry, the law pursues a legitimate goal, is necessary in a democratic society, provides for a democratic procedure in which the court has the final say; is the least burdensome, since it does not burden the conscience of believers, but only removes them from the pressure of the Russian Orthodox Church, which, as emphasized in the PACE Resution, is an ideogical continuation of the criminal regime.

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Finally, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reminded the UN that it is Russia that is committing numerous crimes against religious freedoms in the course of its war of aggression, and expressed he that in its reports the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission will continue providing objective assessments of the actual situation of freedom of religion in Ukraine and record Russian crimes against Ukrainian believers, religious communities and clerics, as well as church prerty.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on August 20, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada adted the Law on the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Activities of Religious Organizations, which prohibits the activities of religious organizations, affiliated with the Russian Federation, on the territory of Ukraine.

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On August 24, President Vodymyr Zelensky put the law into force.

In December, Zelensky reported that Russian invaders had killed 50 priests and destroyed about 700 churches since the invasion.

In a report dated December 31, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights claimed Ukraine’s new legislation on the dissution of religious organizations insufficiently justified and added that a threat to national security was not a sufficient basis for restricting freedom of religion.