Moscow Human Rights Bureau Prepared Report On Ukrainian Orthodox Believers' Discrimination

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th December, 2018) The Moscow Bureau for Human Rights prepared a report on discrimination of Orthodox believers in Ukraine, which is going to be presented in January, the Russian Council for Civil Society and Human Rights said in a statement on Thursday.

"The Moscow Bureau for Human Rights, which is headed by member of the Russian presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights Alexander Brod, prepared a report on discrimination of Orthodox believers in Ukraine," the statement said.

According to Brod, the Ukrainian authorities with the support of the Constantinople patriarchate and the US Administration have activated the efforts on creation of the single local church, which is directly subjected to the Ukrainian state. From his point of view, the Ukrainian struggle for autocephaly is a "kind of test for the whole Orthodox world" and is "accompanied by multiple violations of human rights."

The report, obtained by Sputnik, provides statistics of violations of the rights of Orthodox believers in Europe, according to which 66 percent out of 165 cases in Europe took place in Ukraine.

"It is necessary to boost the work in several spheres: state policy, aimed at maintenance and promotion of national interests and rights of compatriots; church diplomacy, linked to the protection of the right of the faithful people in Ukraine and support for the positions of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Orthodox world; non-politicized human rights activities aimed at protection of the violated human rights," the report said.

The Moscow Bureau for Human Rights noted that the rights of Orthodox believers in Ukraine would likely to be further violated.

"It is especially important to create the own system of assessment of the freedom of worship in order to de-monopolize these activities, which are now almost exclusively made by the United States and its allies," the report added.

The report will be sent to human rights organizations, the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) after its publication.

On December 15, a "unification council" was held in Kiev, where Epiphany Dumenko was elected head of the new "autocephalous church." The Ukrainian authorities expect to get tomos of autocephaly from Constantinople in early January.

The Moscow Patriarchate described the situation as the "legalization of schism," stressing that it would have catastrophic consequences and affect millions of Christians in Ukraine and other countries.