Expert: Few Human Rights Campaigners in Ukraine Are Intersted in Protection of Religious Freedom

A web conference with Executive Director Maksym Vasin of the Institute of Religious Freedom (IRF) "Religious Freedom as a Fundamental Component of Human Rights," was held at RISU.

The expert strated that today in Ukraine there are few human rights campaigners focused on problems of the protection and establishment of religious freedom. "They often deliberately or nondeliberately defend secular principles and sometimes fundamental secularism," noted Vasin.

He also noted that the values included in human rights should be clearly defined. "Churches cannot indifferently watch the tolerant and even approving attitude to the very phenomenon of same-sex relations being propagated  under the pretext of the struggle for human rights and democracy," the expert quotes the Declaration of Christian Churches of Ukraine of June 10, 2010.

Vasin reminded that there were repeated conflicts in Europe regarding the correlation between the freedom of thought and confession and the efforts of the state to protect representatives of particular minorities.  

"Therefore, the society itself, which is partly made up of the church and believers, can declare its position in defense of moral values, the institute of the family, and a safe information space for its children during public campaigns and addresses to the authorities regarding certain initiatives," stated the expert.