UOJ requested OSCE to assess draft law on church raiding

The Union of Orthodox Journalists forwarded a letter to Andrey Dzubenko – a national program coordinator of the OSCE Project Coordinator in Ukraine. We are waiting for a reply from the organization on whether the draft law #4128 violates human rights.   

An odious draft law has been already reviewed by the Profile Parliamentary Committee and recommended for adoption in the first reading. It foresees the following amendments to the current law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations”:  

Firstly, “affiliation of an individual to a religious community is determined by their self-identification, as evidenced by participation of an individual in the religious life of a particular community.” It means any person, who decided to be faithful and attends a church even once a year, can influence the life of the religious community.

Secondly, pursuant to the recommended amendment to the Law, the life of the community is supposed to be regulated by the majority’s opinion. Still, taking account of the first paragraph, this majority may be formed up by the people who are actually far from real religious life.  

Members of the Committee on Cultural and Spiritual Property assure the adoption of the draft law will comply with the recommendations of the Venice Commission and the OSCE.

However, there is an Opinion of the Main Scientific and Expert Department of the Verkhovna Rada, according to which draft law #4128 runs counter to article 9 of the Convention on Human Rights Protection. Besides, the European Court of Human Rights has already determined to defend the religious communities’ rights to independently establish their composition.   

Experts and human rights activists also view the draft law as an attempt to intrude into activities of religious communities that can make church raiding legitimate and exacerbate religious animosity.  

The UOJ therefore requests the OSCE to answer the questions below:

- Were there any recommendations for adopting draft law #4128?

- Is it really necessary at the moment to adopt draft law #4128 in the current edition?

- Does the draft law meet the requirements of the Convention on Human and Believers’ Rights Protection?

- What are the implications of the norms of this legislative innovation?

- Does the OSCE intend to give its recommendations to the Ukrainian authorities on the matter in question?

The UOJ is looking forward to the response and continues to monitor the developments.

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