Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkasy made a statement at the UN on religious genocide in Ukraine

The head of the Cherkasy diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), Metropolitan Feodosiy, has addressed the international community during the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. In his speech, the hierarch stated about the systemic violation of the rights of believers and characterized the current situation as religious genocide.

According to the press service of the Cherkasy diocese of the UOC, the hierarch took part in a meeting on racism, xenophobia and intolerance. Metropolitan Theodosius emphasized that he was subjected to criminal prosecution by the Ukrainian authorities for expressing his theological views and criticizing the policy towards the church. “According to international law, the expression of theological views and the demand for justice cannot be prosecuted,” he noted, pointing out the inconsistency of the authorities’ actions with international norms.

During the report, the hierarch listed the main aspects of the oppression of the UOC: the adoption of a law banning the church’s activities, mass seizures of churches, mobilization of clergy and an aggressive media campaign. According to the Metropolitan, official Kyiv ignores the recommendations of the UN special rapporteurs and continues its course of escalating the conflict.

The Metropolitan’s statement was supported by human rights organizations with consultative status at the UN, such as For Humanrights and the international association Church Against Xenophobia and Discrimination. The information about the persecution was officially sent to the UN Under-Secretary-General for Human Rights Ilse Brandes Kehris for inclusion in the report on countering repressions against persons cooperating with international organizations.

We shall remind you that earlier, the United Nations human rights monitoring mission to Ukraine released a report entitled “Four years since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine: key facts and conclusions”, which recorded numerous circumstances related to the violation of religious freedom on the territory controlled by the country’s government.