UN: Banning the Russian Church in Ukraine may “violate international standards”

According to Glavkom, this is stated in the report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The UN noted that the ban on the UOC-MP “violates international standards” as, according to the report, “national security is not a sufficient basis for restricting religious freedom under international treaties.”

“The liquidation of a religious organization is a serious restriction that affects the ability of people to manifest their religion or beliefs in community with others and threatens the viability of the community as a whole. Such a measure requires very strong grounds. Ukraine has not demonstrated the necessity and proportionality of this measure,” the UN said.

The report notes that the adopted law allows the liquidation of religious communities on vague grounds that “do not provide a clear understanding of the requirements of the law.” This, according to the UN, leads to the fact that the entire religious community is responsible for the actions of individuals.

“An overly broad and ambiguous wording could jeopardize the right to freedom of expression,” the report says.

This is not the first time the UN has criticized Ukraine because of the Moscow Church. In 2023, the UN stated that Ukrainian law enforcement officers allegedly took no measures to protect the faithful of the UOC-MP. Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, noted that 10 cases of physical violence and six cases of threats were recorded due to disputes between parishioners of different Orthodox jurisdictions in Ukraine.

As reported previously, on August 24, 2024, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed Bill No. 8371 to ban the activities of religious organizations with a governing center in a state that carries out armed aggression against Ukraine.