HEAD OF NGO "PUBLIC ADVOCACY" DENYSOV OLEG REPORTED THE FACTS OF VIOLATIONS OF THE RIGHTS OF THE ORTHODOX BELIEVERS IN UKRAINE, MONTENEGRO AND FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA AT THE OSCE HUMAN DIMENTION IMPLEMENTATION MEETING IN WARSAW, POLAND.

On September 13, 2018, at the OSCE HDIM/ODIHR meeting held in Warsaw NGO "Public Advocacy" presented the facts of violations of the rights of Orthodox communities in Ukraine, Macedonia and FYROM. The submitted reports addressed at length the facts of violations of the rights of religious organizations in Ukraine: hostile takeovers of churches, evidence of the discriminatory decisions made by the Regional Councils of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil and Rivne, attacks of radicals on the Tithes Monastery and Kyiv-Caves Lavra, as well as hampering the activities the Union of Orthodox Journalists.

 

Special attention was drawn to Draft Laws Nos. 4128,4511,5309, which are still on the agenda of the Ukrainian Parliament, despite their negative assessment by experts and international community.

 

During his oral statement, Head of NGO "Public Advocacy " Denysov Oleg stressed that already in several European countries, namely Ukraine, Montenegro and FYROM, there exist systematic violations of the rights of canonical religious confessions. The reason behind these violations being the states’ policies aimed at supporting non-canonical confessions, such as the Macedonian Orthodox Church, the Montenegrin Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate. The creation of a Single Local Church should not take place with the involvement of diplomatic and state authorities, for such actions constitute a violation of the international law standards, lead to the division of society on religious grounds, entails hostility and contradict the European trajectory of Ukraine.

 

The human rights organization NGO "Public Human Rights" drew the attention of the OSCE and participating States to the fact that it is Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew who should be held responsible for the increasing religious tensions in Ukraine and FYROM due to his official public statements and official decrees of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which are aimed at supporting political projects of the said states.

 

During the OSCE event, meetings were held with the representatives of diplomatic missions of participating states, international and human rights organizations, and the media.

 

 

NGO "Public Advocacy" is a non-governmental organization in consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council and is a member of the Eastern European Human Rights Group, which is committed to the protection of the rights of religious organizations in Ukraine, Montenegro and FYROM.

 

Links to the full texts of the statements, which are devided in two separate sessions:

Link 1

Link 2