Representatives of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church are concerned about the possible ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Violence against Women and Domestic Violence and the fight against these phenomena (Istanbul Convention), Bill 0119.
Representatives of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church are concerned about the possible ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Violence against Women and Domestic Violence and the fight against these phenomena (Istanbul Convention), Bill 0119.
On Tuesday, Father Oleksa Petrov, a mitered archpriest and Candidate of Legal Sciences, Head of the Department of External Relations of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said this during a round table discussion on “Family as a Security Zone” at Ukrinform.
“We are concerned about the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. It was extensively outspoken in our meetings, but we still had to think, advise someone to re-verify, verify their position as believers, citizens as members of civil society, and to communicate their voice aloud. Unfortunately, those in the obvious minority, more are heard through the media, heard in public discourse than we, the vast majority of citizens who stand for traditional family values,” said Fr. Olexa Petrov
It is about introducing into the legislation of Ukraine the concepts of gender, gender identity, gender sensitivity, sexual orientation and the like that go beyond the generally accepted concept of gender in Ukraine and distort understanding of gender equality as the equality of rights of women and men, in particular, the content of the state's gender policy.
“The definition of a marriage, the definition of what marriage is an alliance between a man and a woman, is lost. This is already an existential threat to the family. In the last years of our life there was a tendency of danger and threats to the family and traditional family values. It is impossible not to mention these threats to the safety of the family, family members, consisting in the constant attempts to legalize various forms of cohabitation that are not inherent to our people, and for us Christians are simply sinners,” Fr. Olexa Petrov noted.
The UGCC believes that the concept of "gender" in the legislation of Ukraine through the Istanbul Convention can be interpreted not in the sense of equality of women and men, but in the interests of those who identify themselves as women or men. This will distort the understanding and practical implementation of all legislative acts of Ukraine in the field of gender policy of the state.
At the same time, representatives of the Church stress that Ukraine should take all effective measures to combat domestic violence. However, this should not happen to the detriment of the moral principles of Ukrainian society, nor should it distort the understanding of a full-fledged family – the union of men and women - in children and young people.