On September 19, a special event
dedicated to the issues of religious freedom in the Russian-occupied
Ukrainian territories of Crimea and Donbas was held as part of the
annual OSCE conference in Warsaw. The event, organized by the Center for
Civil Liberties in partnership with the Institute of Religious Freedom,
was attended by diplomats of OSCE participating countries, religious
figures and social activists.
Archbishop Yevstratiy (Zoria), Deputy
Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Orthodox
Church of Ukraine, lawyer of Crimean Tatars and Crimean political
prisoners Lilia Gemendzhi, Program Manager of the Russian Human Rights
Center "Memorial" Vitaly Ponomarev and Executive Director of the Center
for Civil Liberties Oleksandra Romantsova provided information about the
difficulties faced by Ukrainian believers of different faiths of
Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions (Donbas) due to the Russian
occupation. It was reported by the Institute of Religious Freedom.
The lack of adequate international
monitoring in Crimea and closedness to human rights organizations,
especially in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions,
gives rise to complete impunity for the occupation authorities, who are
not accountable to anyone for their numerous crimes on the grounds of
religion. This encourages the Russian authorities in Crimea and illegal
military formations in Eastern Ukraine, supported by Russia, to continue
their violence against believers and religious minorities.
Human rights activists also noted that
the current daily reports of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to
Ukraine (SMM) do not even mention the outrageous facts of religious
persecution in the military conflict zone in Eastern Ukraine.
The participants urged the audience of
diplomats and OSCE structures, including ODIHR and the SMM, to establish
a comprehensive and impartial international monitoring of freedom of
religion or belief, documentation and public disclosure of violations
and crimes based on religion in the territories beyond control of the
Ukrainian government, Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and in occupied
Crimea.