The international human rights organization Forum-18 (Oslo, Norway) has analyzed the draft law No. 8371, which the media dubbed “the law on banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church”. This is reported by the Telegram channel Dialog.TUT.

Human rights activists noted that the concept of religious “expertise” is legally dubious, and the so-called “expert analyses” throughout the post-Soviet region are used to justify human rights violations and restrictions on religious freedom.

“The notion of religious ‘expertise’ is also vague and legally dubious. Throughout the post-Soviet region, particularly in Belarus, occupied Crimea and Central Asian states such as Kazakhstan, ‘expert analyses’ are often used to justify oppression of freedom of religion or belief and other human rights violations, including the imprisonment of prisoners of conscience”, – the international legal experts’ opinion reads.

In addition, the analysis of the draft law stresses that “President Zelensky’s Decree of 1 December 2022 on the review of the SSRA is potentially problematic under international law because, as stated in the OSCE/Council of Europe Venice Commission Guidelines on the legal personality of religious or belief communities: ‘The state should refrain from formally reviewing the statute and nature of a religious organization.”