CONSTITUTIONAL COURT TO REVIEW PROCEDURE FOR ORGANIZING PUBLIC RELIGIOUS MEETINGS
Ombudsman Valeria Lutkovskaia introduced into the Ukrainian Constitutional Court a representation concerning the unconstitutionality of part 5 of article 21 [see below] of the Ukrainian law "On freedom of conscience and religious organizations."
The representation by the plenipotentiary for human rights of the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet says that the permitting procedure for arranging public peaceful assemblies of a religious nature provided by the law does not accord with article 39 of the Ukrainian constitution, the Institute of Religious Liberty reports.
"Public religious meetings, including public worship services, religious rituals, ceremonies, processions, etc. are in essence public peaceful assemblies," Ombudsman Valeria Lutkovskia is sure.
The constitutional representation notes that exercise of the right to freedom of worldview and religious confession in the form of a public worship service, religious ritual, ceremony, or procession should be carried out on the basis of constitutional norms contained in article 39 of the Ukrainian constitution regarding conduct of peaceful assemblies. This means that any public worship service should be conducted on the condition of a prior notification of a body of executive authority or body of local self-administration, and restrictions on the exercise of this right may be established only by a court.
"It is good that attention has been turned to this problem at the highest level. This explicitly discriminatory norm has remained in the law almost 20 years now, and some representatives of local government are happy to use the 'right' to issue permits for public peaceful assemblies of believers as was the case in soviet times. I hope that the judges of the Constitution Court will finally remove this misunderstanding," Maksim Vasin, the executive director of the Institute of Religious Liberty and member of the Consultative Council under the plenipotentiary for human rights of the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet, commented on the ombudsman's initiative.
Previously the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations and experts of the Institute of Religious Liberty recommended to parliament the removal of these unconstitutional provisions of the law and introduction of a procedure for arranging peaceful assemblies of believers and religious organizations that is like that for other citizens and institutions of civil society.
As the IRL reported, according to the position of the Ukrainian Constitutional Court, the right of citizens to assemble peacefully, without weapons, and to conduct meetings, rallies, processions, and demonstrations is one of the constitutional guarantees of a citizen's right to freedom of worldview and religious confession and the right to thought and speech and the free expression of one's views and convictions. (tr. by PDS, posted 10 November 2015)
Additional information: The fifth part of article 21 of the law "On freedom of conscience and religious organizations" reads as follows:
"In other cases, public worship services, religious rituals, ceremonies, and processions are conducted with the permission for each time of a relevant local governmental administration or executive body of a village, town, or city council. Request for issuing said permission is submitted no later than ten days before the scheduled time for conducting a worship service, ritual, ceremony, or procession, except in instances of intolerable delay." (tr. by PDS, posted 10 November 2015)
from Ukrainian law "On freedom of conscience and religious organizations"
"Citizens have
the right to
assemble peacefully without arms and to hold meetings, rallies,
processions and
demonstrations, upon notifying in advance the bodies of
executive power or
bodies of local self-government.
"Restrictions on the exercise of
this right may be established by a court in accordance with the
law and only in
the interests of national security and public order, with the
purpose of
preventing disturbances or crimes, protecting the health of the
population, or
protecting the rights and freedoms of other persons."
from Ukrainian
constitution (1996)
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