Ethnic Policy Office specifies terms for religious activities of foreigners

The Public Service for Ethnic Policy processes applications for coordination of religious activities of foreigners in Ukraine. Photo: dess.gov.ua

The Public Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) explained the conditions for foreigners to carry out their religious activities in Ukraine.

"Clergmen, religious preachers, mentors, other representatives of foreign organizations, who have foreign citizenship and temporarily stay in Ukraine, may preach religious doctrines, perform religious rites or other canonical activities only for those religious organizations at whose invitation they arrived and upon official coordination with the state body that performed the registration of the statute (regulations) of the relevant religious organization," the official website of the authority reported.

The Service has already started processing applications "for coordination of canonical activities" of foreigners, in accordance with Art. 24 of the Law of Ukraine "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations".

The state body clarified that a request for approval (official letter) should be addressed by a religious organization registered in Ukraine, which invites a foreigner, not by him personally.

“One has to apply to the institution that registered the statute (regulations) of the relevant religious organization. Thus, if the statute of the organization was registered by the central body of executive power, the approval is issued by the DESS as a central body of executive power. If the statute was registered by the regional state administration (RSA), it is necessary to address RSA. It works similarly in the case of registration of the statute by the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA). Requirements for the contents of the letter and related documents, as well as the terms of consideration remain unchanged," the Public Service specified.

Applications are currently accepted by mail, but in the future it is planned to organize the reception of applications in electronic form "in the format of personal offices of religious organizations for the convenience of religious communities."

As reported by the UOJ, earlier Sergei Trofimov, the first deputy head of the President's Office said that the Public Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, which the open proponent of the OCU Andrei Yurash sought to head, was created as a factor of pressure on religious organizations.

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