United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Urged Parliament of Ukraine to Revise Draft Law 8371

Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine – File Pic WIKI

Information and Education Department of UOC – OCP News Service – 20/11/2023

Kyiv – Ukraine: Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), drew the attention of world community to draft law 8371, adopted in its first reading by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (the Ukrainian parliament), in her speech at the UN Security Council meeting devoted to freedom of religion in Ukraine on 17 September 2023, the Information and Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church reports.

‘In October, Ukraine’s Parliament approved in its first reading a set of draft amendments to the law on religious organizations, which would establish a procedure for the dissolution of “religious organizations affiliated with influence centres, the management of which is located in a country, which carries out armed aggression against Ukraine”’, noted the human rights advocate.

‘International law permits restrictions on the freedom to manifest religion only if they are prescribed by law and necessary to protect public safety, order, health or morals, or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others’, she said, urging lawmakers to ‘clearly define the specific legitimate aim of the proposed restrictions and ensure their necessity and proportionality and revise the text accordingly’.

Source:

OCP News Service