Ukraine's power gives no answer to UN request on offences of the UOC rights

Ukraine leaves the UN request for violations of the UOC believers’ rights without an answer

The UN Special Rapporteurs Group, which on September 30, 2018 addressed the authorized state bodies of Ukraine with an information request about the violation of the rights of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, did not receive an answer in a timely manner. The UOC Representative Office to European International Organizations regards this as an attempt to conceal the real situation with discrimination of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the UOC Information and Educaiton Department informs.

In the information request to the state of Ukraine, questions were raised about a series of acts of violence which appear to contravene the internationally-recognized right to freedom of religion and belief. The request is about the following violations: “attacks against and seizures of places of worship belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), acts of intimidation and harassment, the disruption of the All-Ukrainian Cross Procession as well as violence against peaceful believers.”

The UN Special Rapporteurs expressed “grave concern at these allegations, which, if confirmed, would amount to an emerging pattern of officially-sanctioned, directly or by omission, violations of the internationally-recognized rights to life and security of the person, to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly and to religious freedom and belief, as set forth in articles 6, 9, 18, 19 and 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).”

The ICCPR was ratified by the state of Ukraine in 1973 and constitutes an international legal obligation.

The Representation of the UOC to the European International Organizations believes that such behavior on the part of state officials in charge of international politics is evident attempts to hide from the international human rights mechanism the facts of human rights violations in Ukraine. It is also another proof of the existence of a systematic state policy on discrimination of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Recall, recently the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published a report, which refers to the violation of the rights and freedoms of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

As the UOJ reported, Bishop Victor (Kotsaba) of Baryshevka, the head of the UOC Representation to European International Organizations, sent an address to the officials of the UN, OSCE, EU and other countries in connection with the facts of large-scale violations of human rights in Ukraine and the real threat of escalation of religious conflicts.

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