Representative of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church spoke about violations of the rights of Orthodox believers
February 3, 2016. With the blessing of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy of Kyiv and all Ukraine, Deputy Chairman of the Department for external Church relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (DECR UOC) Archpriest Mykolay Danylevych took part in the meeting of the Public Council for cooperation with religious organizations to the Ministry of foreign affairs of Ukraine, as the official website of DECR of the UOC reports.
During the meeting, those present familiarized themselves with international events that had taken place since the previous meeting of the Public Council which involved the participation of various church and religious organizations. Also heard were reports of manifestations of religious intolerance towards the communities of certain confessions in Crimea and Donbas.
Archpriest Mykolay Danylevych emphasized the need that particular attention be paid to the numerous violations of the rights of believers and communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in some regions of Ukraine: forced seizures of churches, inaction by some local authorities, noncompliance of court rulings with regards to the protection of the rights of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. It is imperative that special attention be given to these issues, especially since the above given facts are the areas of prime concern for international human rights organizations.
In particular it should be recalled that on January 30, 2016 representatives of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission which was deployed in the city of Kremenets, Ternopil region during a series of meetings familiarized themselves with materials evidencing the violation of the rights of believers of the UOC in Ternopil region.