Commentary on the government decision to elevate the status of Ukraine’s state structure on matters of religion

Oleksandr ZAIETS, director of the Institute of Religious Freedom

On 8 November 2006, according to Regulation 1575 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the State Committee on Matters of Nationalities and Religions was established on the basis of the reorganized State Committee on Matters of Nationalities and Migration and the State Department on Religious Matters.

Brief history

When Ukraine gained its independence, it had a Council on Matters of Religions attached to the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which operated on the basis of the statutes of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR of 25.02.1975, “On approval of the Statutes of the Council on Matters of Religions attached to the Council of Ministers of the SSR.” In March 1992, the status of the Council on Matters of Religions attached to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine was determined by governmental regulation as a central state department of Ukraine, attached to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and subordinated to the government. The Council on Matters of Religions existed in that status until August 1994.

From August 1994 to October 1995, the responsibilities and functions of the state structure of Ukraine on matters of religions (this is how the structure is defined in the law of Ukraine “On freedom of worship and religious organizations” of 23.04.1991) were committed to Ukraine’s Ministry on Matters of Nationalities, Migration and Religion, to which the Department on Matters of Religions was attached. According to its statutes, the ministry had the status of a central structure of state executive power and was subordinated to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

In October 1995, by decree of the president of Ukraine, Ukraine’s State [National] Committee on Religious Matters was established in order to ensure pursuance of the state policy on religions and churches. The Statutes of Ukraine’s State Committee on Religious Matters, approved by Regulation 2 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of 3 January 1996, defined the status of the state structure of Ukraine on matters of religions as a central body of state executive power, subordinated to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. On 14 November 2000, Decree 1229/2000 of the president of Ukraine defined the status of Ukraine’s State Committee on Religious Matters as a central body of the executive power, whose activity is directed and coordinated by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine through the minister of justice of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s State Committee on Religious Matters existed in that status until April 2005, when Decree 701/2005 of the president of Ukraine liquidated the committee and imposed its functions on the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

In May-August 2005, respective regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine established the State Department on Religious Matters and approved a regulation which defined the status of the State Department on Religious Matters as a governmental structure of state control, attached to the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and subordinated thereto. The State Department on Religious Matters existed in that status until November 2006, when the above-mentioned decision of the government was made.

Causes of the elevation of the status of the state structure of Ukraine on matters of religions

1. The natural wish of officials to elevate their status (in this case, for many of them, to return to the position of spring 2005, that is, to the liquidation of Ukraine’s State Committee on Religious Matters)

2. Efforts of the incumbent government and the Anti-crisis Parliamentary Coalition to increase the influence of the state factor in the religious sphere, particularly in opposition to the president of Ukraine and his secretariat

3. Proposals of certain denominations, including ones associated with ethnic minorities, as to the elevation of the status of the state structure of Ukraine on matters of religions

4. The disbalance of the system of structures of executive power which are responsible for pursuing state policy in the sphere of church-state relations along the center-regions line

5. A certain intensification of interdenominational conflicts at the local level

Certain preliminary conclusions

1. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine through Ukraine’s State Committee on Matters of Nationalities and Religions will try to take control of processes in the sphere of church-state and interdenominational relations in Ukraine.

2. The establishment by the government of Ukraine’s State Committee on Matters of Nationalities and Religions could lead to an equal step on the part of Ukrainian President V. Yushchenko, namely, the establishment of a consultative structure on matters of freedom of worship and denomination attached to the president of Ukraine.

3. Factions of the parliamentary opposition will increase their work with the denominations.

4. The leading denominations will take measures to preserve the existing level of religious freedom in Ukraine.

5. There will exist in Ukraine’s State Committee on Matters of Nationalities and Religions a certain permanent conflict situation between the Department on Matters of Nationalities on the one hand and the Department on Matters of Religions, on the other hand. In the short term, this conflict, along with other factors, could lead to the liquidation or reorganization of Ukraine’s State Committee on Matters of Nationalities and Religions and the establishment on its basis of separate offices: on matters of nationalities and on matters of religions.

6. Discussions about the status of the state structure of Ukraine on matters of religions will, most probably, continue.