43rd session of the UN Human Rights Council
Agenda item 3
Interactive dialogue with Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief
Intervention by Ukraine
(Geneva, March 2, 2020)
Madam President,
Ukraine commends the activities of the Special Rapporteur and fully supports this important mandate. I am pleased to inform that Ukraine, along with other over 20 countries, has participated in the meeting dedicated to the launch of the International Religious Freedom Alliance.
Freedom of religion and faith has always been a basic value for Ukrainians. The Constitution protects freedom of religion and provides for the separation of church and state. The objective of domestic religious policy is to foster creation of a tolerant society and provide for freedom of conscience and worship.
In the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and Crimea, Russia continues to use religious repressions, and freedom of belief appears to be applied at the whim of the occupying Power unconstrained by any legal checks.
Crimean Tatar Muslims and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine have become the most oppressed and persecuted religious community in Crimea. Crimean Tatars face regular searches and detentions, a continuing inability to practice their religion freely or express dissent, a lack of restitution of their religious properties, and other infringements on a daily basis. Priests of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine continue to be denied the access to Ukrainian hostages illegally detained in Crimea.
Russia, as an occupying power, bears full responsibility under international law for respecting fundamental rights and freedoms of the people residing in the occupied territories.
Thank you.