This is stated in a letter to the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations to the Parliamentary Committee, which will prepare Bill 3501 for the second reading, the Institute of Religious Freedom reports.
According to the heads of denominations, the fight against discrimination should not negate the fundamental human right to freedom of opinion and speech, freedom of expression and opinion, freedom of ideology and religion. This is stated in a letter to the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations to the Parliamentary Committee, which will prepare Bill 3501 for the second reading, the Institute of Religious Freedom reports. Following the discussion held during the meeting of March 1, 2016, AUCCRO proposed that in drafting Bill 3501 for the second reading the Committee should add thereto the proviso in Article 6 of the Law of Ukraine “On Principles of Prevention and Combating Discrimination in Ukraine” as follows: “Action or omission of a person and / or group of persons in exercising their rights to freedom of opinion and speech, freedom of expression and belief, on freedom of conscience cannot be qualified as discrimination.” Another AUCCRO proposal concerns peculiarities of labor relations in religious organizations and legal entities established by them, which provide benefits in the provision of works, reassignment and leaving for work in the event of the release for their founders (participants) and members. Earlier, representatives of Ukrainian churches called the amendments to proposed bill 3501 very unbalanced. Existing reservations about the discriminatory behavior is too narrow because it relates only to internal activities of religious organizations and ignore the public sphere. For example, a situation where there are objections on the grounds of religion and freedom of conscience upon which the officer refuses to solemnize same-sex marriage, a gynecologist and obstetrician refuses to do abortions or euthanasia, and religious leaders on the basis of Scripture warn about the sin of homosexuality, etc. Earlier, in November 2015, parliamentarians at the 9th attempts voted to add the concepts of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the list of bans of discrimination in employment, which was done in flagrant breach of regulatory procedures.