USCIRF fail to notice serious violations of UOC believers’ rights

USCIRF members at Phanar. Photo: USCIRF Facebook page

The US Government Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has not seen any serious violations of the rights of believers in Ukraine. This is indicated by the USCIRF 2023 Annual Report, published on the website of the organization on 1 May 2023.

The commission named 12 countries whose "governments commit or tolerate systematic, ongoing and flagrant violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief. The list includes China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and other countries. Ukraine is not on the list.

The report devotes one paragraph to the situation in Ukraine. The text says that after the Russian invasion, "Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, Ukrainian authorities increasingly scrutinized the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC)—which is historically and ecclesiastically linked to the Moscow Patriarchate — despite the UOC declaring in May its ‘full independence and autonomy’.”

The USCIRF noted: " The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) searched hundreds of UOC churches and other religious facilities and opened criminal proceedings against dozens of UOC clergy for collaborating with Russian authorities, spreading pro-Russian propaganda, or justifying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

The report also mentions bills in the Rada against the UOC.

" In December, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered his Cabinet of Ministers to also submit a bill to parliament that would make it ‘impossible for religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence in the Russian Federation to operate in Ukraine’. While the Ukrainian parliament had not passed any such legislation banning religious groups by the end of 2022, its potential to still do so remained a serious concern,“ reads the USCIRF Report.

Mass seizures of UOC churches are not mentioned in the Report.

The USCIRF website says that the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent bipartisan federal government organization set up by the US Congress to monitor, analyse and report on religious freedom abroad.

Earlier, the State Department stated it was unaware of the crackdown on the UOC.

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