Ukrainian delegation to the US tells about Russian terror against churches
On 3 February, the US Senate hosted the International Religious Freedom Roundtable (IRF Roundtable) in Washington, DC, where representatives of Ukraine made a presentation on the persecution of religious communities in the temporarily occupied territories.
Source: RISU
According to Maksym Vasin, Executive Director of the Institute for Religious Freedom, the Ukrainian delegation was one of the first to take the floor. It emphasised Russia’s systemic pressure on Ukrainian religious communities, repression of clergy and direct interference of Russian religious structures in the affairs of Ukrainian denominations.
Among the participants of the roundtable were:
- Viktor Yelenskyy, Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience
- Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights
- Bohdan Movchan – representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
- Mykhailo Brytsyn – main author of the report ‘Faith under Russian Terror’
According to Maksym Vasin, this year’s event was attended by many more participants, including international experts, human rights activists and political leaders.
Summit on International Religious Freedom in the United States
On 4-5 February, the 5th Annual International Religious Freedom Summit will be held in Washington, DC. It will bring together world leaders, human rights organisations and representatives of civil society who work to protect religious rights around the world.
The event is organised by:
- Sam Brownback, former US Ambassador for Religious Freedom
- Yvonne Katrina Swett Lantos, President of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights
Three key panels are planned as part of the summit:
- On 4 February – ‘Looking to the Future’ session, where the strategic directions for the IRF Summit will be presented, as well as the discussion ‘What We Face’, dedicated to the challenges of mass migration and religious pluralism.
On 5 February, there will be a session titled ‘How We Win’, which will look at ways to fight dictatorships and strategies for international cooperation.
The event will also include a Ukrainian briefing, where representatives of Ukraine will present evidence of Russian war crimes and testimonies of victims of repression.
Particular attention will be drawn to the speech of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviychuk, who will participate in the final panel of the summit.
The Ukrainian delegation continues to draw the attention of the international community to the systematic violations of religious freedoms in the occupied territories, calling for increased international pressure on Russia.
