EspañolThe following press release was distributed to media outlets today.
UKRAINE’S PASSAGE OF CONTROVERSIAL LAW TO BAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IS A GROTESTQUE VIOLATION OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
INTERNATIONAL LAWYERS FOR UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH WILL PURSUE ALL AVAILABILITY REMEDIES TO HOLD SPONSORS ACCOUNTABLE
LONDON, AUGUST 20, 2024 – Today Draft Law 8371 has passed its second reading in Ukraine’s parliament. Once the bill has been signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky, it will pass into law, marking a dark new chapter for human rights in Ukraine, says Robert Amsterdam, an international lawyer representing the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).
“Since last October we have warned Ukraine’s allies of this egregious law, which seeks to impose collective punishment against an entire religious denomination in violation of every known international law, and today, we have seen the majority of Verkhovna Rada cave in to nationalist pressure and step into lawlessness,” said Amsterdam. “We will continue our fight to protect our client and its parishioners from these violations of their rights, and seek to hold those accountable who sponsored this reprehensible religious cleansing law before every available international legal venue.”
Draft Law 8371 establishes the legal framework to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), and it amounts to one of the most severe restrictions of religious freedom of the modern era, says Amsterdam. It is a form of targeted discrimination, which attacks the rights of millions of Ukrainian citizens who belong to the country’s oldest Christian denomination.
Draft Law 8371 empowers the State Service of Ukraine on Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) to examine the relationship between the UOC and the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). If DESS determines that the two churches are affiliated, then it will file an administrative claim at court to terminate the UOC. The court will deprive the UOC of its legal identity and property rights, and outlaw its religious activities, forcing parishioners to worship underground. This amounts to a collective punishment of innocent citizens on religious grounds. The ban of an entire church is an unnecessary and disproportionate restriction on the freedom of religion, which is impermissible under international law. To the extent an identifiable individual has committed acts of treason or collaboration with the aggressor state, that individual should be subject to criminal proceedings under Ukrainian law.
Draft Law 8371 has been formulated in a way that means DESS will determine that the UOC and ROC are affiliated. Several of the grounds contained in the law relate to factors over which the UOC has absolutely no control, namely the statutory documents, actions, and decisions of the ROC. This is patently unfair. The enactment of Draft Law 8371 dooms the UOC to termination, and there are no changes that the UOC can make that will eliminate this drastic result.
The unfair grounds upon which DESS can make its determination completely overlook the concrete actions of the UOC to disassociate from the ROC. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the UOC has declared its independence, building on the rights of self-administration and broad autonomy that it acquired in 1990. The UOC has amended its statute to remove references to the ROC. It has established its own parishes abroad to serve the needs of Ukrainian refugees. It has restored the production of chrism (holy myrrh) to Kyiv. It has changed the liturgical practice of its priests and bishops, who now only offer prayers to local Ukrainian bishops and Metropolitan Onufriy, the head of the UOC. In addition, the UOC has provided significant financial and moral support to the Ukrainian state and people during the war.
The Ukrainian government’s efforts to suppress the UOC is only sowing division at a time when the country desperately needs unity. As the Church of England has observed, “Draft Law 8371 threatens Ukraine’s social cohesion at a time when it needs a unified societal response to Russian aggression. It encourages an ethno-religious nationalism that will be detrimental to Ukraine’s long term Western trajectory.”
We expect DESS to launch its investigation in the coming weeks. However, court proceedings to terminate the UOC can only begin nine months after the day following the publication of Draft Law 8371. During this period, I shall continue to raise awareness of the violation of religious freedom taking place in Ukraine and work with international partners to seek the repeal of this pernicious law.
Amsterdam & Partners LLP is an international law firm with offices in London and Washington DC. More information is available at www.amsterdamandpartners.com and www.savetheuoc.com.
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