Delegation of the World Council of Churches: new bills of Verkhovna Rada will have a negative impact on freedom of religion

6-8 June 2016, a staff delegation from the World Council of Churches (WCC) headed by Mr. Peter Nigel Prove visited Ukraine. The visit was aimed to renew relations with Christain communities in Ukraine and to explore new possibilities of joint promotion by Christian Churches of peace and reconciliation in Ukraine, reports the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC.

During the visit the delegation had a number of meetings with representatives of Ukrainian Churches as well as with officials of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission for Ukraine, aiming to receive a full picture of the current situation in Ukraine in the religious field.

On June 6, the delegation met with His Eminence Metropolitan of Lugansk and Alchevsk Mytrofan, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC and its staff-members. Mr. Prove recalled a statement made earlier by His Eminence that the UOC “is being pressured by political actors to take one side or another in current political conflict. But the Church does not take any side, because it has to remain the Church for all and to bear witness for peace and reconciliation, following Christ’s example”. Mr Prove said that he was moved by this commitment, and expressed the hope that the UOC would continue to withstand the pressures upon it, and to raise its voice for national reconciliation.

During the meeting Mr Prove especially highlighted two recent Draft Laws lately registered in Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which would allow changes of jurisdiction of religious communities by local referenda not limited to the members of those religious communities, and impose constraints on religious communities or organizations “governing centres of which are located in a state considered by Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as country-aggressor” (draft laws №4128 and №4511). Mr. Prove expressed great concern about these legislative initiatives and underlined that they “may adversely affect the essential ministry and religious freedom of some church communities in this country”.

At the conclusion of the visit, Director Prove stressed that in the context of the current conflict, the churches have a unique potential for collective witness and action for peace and reconciliation in Ukraine. He urged the government of Ukraine “to reconsider and refrain from any measures that would impede this potential”.

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