UN LAUNCHES PROCEDURAL REVIEW OF VIOLATIONS OF THE RIGHTS OF UOC BELIEVERS
As a result of petitions submitted by the NGO Public Advocacy, other members of the international Alliance "Church against Xenophobia and Discrimination", which holds consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council, based on mandates from victims of violations, as well as complaints submitted directly by the victims themselves, seven UN Special Rapporteurs have addressed a communication to the Government of Ukraine. In this document they reported evidence of violations of the rights of UOC believers, journalists, and lawyers.
The communication lists by name all hierarchs and clergy of the UOC, as well as journalists and human rights defenders who authorized Public Advocacy to represent their interests at the UN level, namely: Metropolitan Theodosiy (Snihiriov) of Cherkasy and Kaniv, Metropolitan Pavlo (Lebid), abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Arseniy (Yakovenko), abbot of the Sviatohirsk Lavra, Metropolitan Longin (Zhar), abbot of the Bancheny Monastery, priest Fr. Yevhenii Koshelnyk, lawyer Svitlana Novytska, and journalist Dmytro Skvortsov.
The communication to the Government of Ukraine was signed by the following UN mandate-holders: the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order; the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers; the Special Rapporteur on minority issues; the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief; and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism.
The UN communication to Ukraine raised issues including the law “on banning the UOC,” the deprivation of citizenship of UOC believers, and the unjustified prosecution of clergy and laity – in particular through the expansive interpretation of Ukraine’s criminal law by state prosecutors in cases connected with lawful rhetorical statements, journalistic publications, and sermons.
Within the UN Special Procedures framework, cases of church seizures were analyzed, including specifically the seizure of the St. Michael Church in Cherkasy, concerning which Metropolitan Theodosiy of Cherkasy and Kaniv had earlier addressed UN representatives, calling on diplomats and international organizations to react to this case.In the operative part of the document, UN mandate-holders posed to Ukraine a number of concrete questions and demands aimed at eliminating the violations of human rights described in the communication.
Thus, the UN communication to Ukraine reflects the fact of recognition of violations of the rights of UOC believers at the international level – this time in the format of a deeper study of specific cases and episodes of violations against UOC believers, journalists, lawyers, and human rights defenders.
Regardless of the content of Ukraine’s response to this communication, the detailed presentation of the issue of violations of UOC rights in an international inquiry – together with the opinions of UN human rights mandate-holders – will make it possible in future to legally qualify the actions of Ukrainian officials as human rights violators at the international level. It will also open the question of their personal responsibility for the deliberate infringement of rights and freedoms in Ukraine, particularly in the event that international reaction is ignored. At the same time, the UN communication expands the human rights agenda for the UOC and for other persons represented by our NGO, in the formats of interaction with other international structures, relying on the authoritative opinion of UN mandate-holders who have already formulated their assessment of systemic problems in the application of Ukrainian law for repressive purposes (for example, by illegally expanding the list of criminal offenses in Ukrainian criminal law and by using vague formulations to accuse people of expressing their beliefs or exercising freedom of speech – which state prosecutors unlawfully designate in their documents and expert opinions as “subversive activity,” “glorification,” or “incitement to hatred”).
The full text of the UN communication is available in the UN communications database at the link provided.
Note: In preparation for the 60th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council (September–October 2025), the UN Special Procedures service published the list of communications sent by the UN to various states during 2025. According to UN procedure, the list of communications based on submissions from NGOs and victims of violations – received in the form of individual complaints, human rights reports, and messages in which the UN identifies signs of violations and conveys its concerns to the state potentially responsible – is made publicly available at the end of each year and then presented to the UN HRC for discussion during its sessions.