On March 17 the Institute of Religious Freedom sent President Yanukovych an address directing his attention to the position of Ukraine's confessions on the procedure to improve the law on the freedom of worship and religious organizations.
The document in particular quotes the address of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations to President Yushchenko of October of last year. The heads of the confessions then noted that the question of approval of the draft concept of state-church relations in Ukraine, developed by a work team with the participation of the confessions, Razumkov's Center, and Ukrainian deputies as a legislative act remains urgent for them.
According to the members of the Council of Churches only after that will it be possible to raise the question of making alterations or passing a new wording of the Law of Ukraine on the Freedom of Worship and Religious Organizations.
Therefore IRF directed the president's attention to the request of the heads of the Ukrainian churches and religious organizations to withdraw from the priority tasks for 2010, stipulated by item 1.1.1.4 of the presidential decree 92/2010 of 03.02.2010, the requirement to develop and approve alterations to the Law of Ukraine on the Freedom of Worship and Religious Organizations (both its new wording and the alterations to individual basic articles).
IRF stated that it agrees with the members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations that it would be advisable that the main efforts of the government to improve the legislation in this area be directed toward the agreement of the mentioned draft concept of church-state relations of Ukraine, about the approval of which the main confessions of Ukraine are in consensus.