Islam in Ukraine - religious organizations

Ukrainian Muslims join in affirmation of unity and support for Ukraine

editor — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 09:01:37 +0000

34 Ukrainian Muslim organisations have signed a Charter of Muslims of Ukraine aimed at joining in a single consolidating force for Ukrainian unity. The move and the affirmation of support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity are especially vital given the challenges brought by Russia’s occupation of Crimea and military conflict in Donbas. The most devastating blow for many Crimean Muslims has been the Chief Mufti of Crimea’s decision to cooperate with the Russian occupation and evidence of collaboration with the repressive organs by the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Crimea, under the Mufti.

Serhiy Danilov, a Crimea specialist at the Association of Middle East Studies [AMES] was one of the guests at the ceremony on Dec 5. He explains that the annexation of Crimea, as well as the occupation of parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts have fundamentally changed the “map of Muslim organizations of Ukraine”. With the effective loss of the largest religious association – the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Crimea – from this map, and the latter’s increased role as an instrument of the occupation regime, a significant percentage of those with a position viewed as dissident have been driven from Crimea. The meeting in Kyiv and the Charter are a clear attempt to demonstrate the position of Muslims to demonstrate their position on such crisis issues, Danilov adds.

Said Ismagilov, Mufti of the Religious Administration of Muslims of Ukraine "UMMA" explains that the document sets out the principles by which Muslim organizations will build their relations among themselves, and their position with respect to the Ukrainian State, its laws, language, culture, etc. Although it is, in broad terms a continuation of the 2008 European Charter of Muslims, there are crucial differences. The Charter of Muslims of Ukraine expresses support for Ukraine’s unity, its sovereignty and territorial integrity and respect for the State language and for all other faiths.

The document was signed by 34 Muslim religious and civic organizations; spiritual directorates, independent religious societies, civic, women’s and volunteer organizations.

The fundamental principles include affirmation that, regardless of which spiritual directorate, centre or society they belong to, Muslims are united as to the God- and Holy Scripture-established foundations of their faith. Fundamental human rights are protected for all regardless of sex, race, citizenship or religious faith (the list of fundamental rights is different to those listed in international documents), and there is general affirmation of principles of tolerance and peaceful co-existence, of equality of men and women in society.

A separate section refers specifically to Muslims in contemporary Ukraine, and, as mentioned, strongly supports its sovereignty, independence and its territorial integrity. Muslims of Ukraine, while remaining true to the principles of Islam, are always open to dialogue with representatives of other faiths with respect to current issues in society. The Charter supports Ukraine’s economic and cultural cooperation with both Muslim and non-Muslim countries, and specifically states that Ukraine’s European integration will foster protection of the rights and freedoms of religious minorities in Ukraine.

The signatories call for internal Muslim dialogue and condemn the use of negative terms such as ‘extremism’, ‘vahhabism’ or ‘Islamism’ as harmful for the image of Muslim communities within Ukraine. They too, however, unequivocally condemn any form of terrorism, especially under religious banners as a crime which contradicts the principles of Islam. They reject violence in any form and express solidarity with Muslims who are facing repression and persecution in any country.

The document and the affirmation of principles of tolerance and pluralism are in stark contrast to the situation in Russian-occupied Crimea and areas under Kremlin-backed militant-control in Donbas.

Pressure on Muslims generally began soon after Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea. By late summer, 2014, there were already reports of armed searches of Crimean Tatar homes, Muslim schools and mosques. These have continued, with a mosque searched back in November and an imam fined for a ‘prohibited book’ which was almost certainly planted.

The Chief Mufti of Crimea Emirali Ablaev decided fairly early to cooperate with Russia, and there have been disturbing indications over recent months that he has positively denounced Crimean Muslims to the occupation authorities. He has certainly not made any significant effort to stand up for the ever-increasing number of political prisoners in Crimea, including 19 men who are in prison as Muslims. Even if the Chief Mufti considers it acceptable to persecute members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an organization which is legal in Ukraine, and totally peaceful, he must be aware that there is no evidence that the men in custody are in fact members of Hizb ut-Tahrir. For the increasingly repressive occupation regime, being Muslim is quite enough.

Source: Human Rights in Ukraine

06/12/2016

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Religious organizations granted right to establish secondary schools

editor — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 08:22:17 +0000

On June 2, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted the Law “On amendments to some laws of Ukraine regulating the establishment of educational institutions by religious organizations”. It entitles the religious organizations, whose regulations (provisions) have been registered according to established procedure, to establish educational institutions (primary, secondary, after-school, vocational and higher institutions).

The respective draft bill has been registered under No. 1447. It was drawn up by the MPs of the Popular Front faction: Pavlo Unguryan, Lilia Hrynevych and Victor Yelenskyy. According to the parliament website, the bill was supported by 237 deputies.

Before voting on the bill in the first reading, Chair of the Committee on Science and Spirituality Lilia Hrynevych said:“Today, any person, any citizen is entitled to establish their own private educational institution, and religious organizations are devoid of this right! This is a result of our post-Soviet interpretation of the separation of church and stateprinciple. Yes, the state has no right to interfere in church matters, and the church should not interfere in state matters, but they may interact. This interaction isthe most successful in the world in education area,” the deputy says.

Note that for the first time the initiative regarding the rights of religious organizations to establish general educational institutions emerged in the 90s of XX century. Then the first such educational institutions appeared, being establishedby charitable foundations or individuals. Today there are dozens of schools belonging to different faiths, but their official founders are not religious organizations. Many times, similar bills, while supported by members of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and religious organizations, were obstructed at the level of MPs or government. The supported bill was registered in Parliament in December 2014.

Source: RISU

11/06/2015

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Kyiv City State Administration calls confessions to actively cooperate

oksana — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:18:12 +0000

Kyiv City Council of churches and religious organizations arranged a meeting on February 8th in KSCA building, reports the Institute of Religious Freedom.

"Although the church and the state are legislatively separated, but we implement a general policy relating to the development of Ukraine and the strengthening of spiritual and moral values of our citizens. So, naturally, that Kyiv and its religious leaders have a joint program of cooperation", – said the chairman of the KCSA.

Oleksandr Popov presented the city's special program "Kyiv: the State-Church relations" which was included to the common strategy of the city development until 2025. According to the chairman, a constant dialogue between city authority and denominations contributes to the appearance of joint projects and initiatives that may be the components of this program.

In their turn, representatives of churches and religious organizations raised the current problematic issues of believers concern and made suggestions for the development of the state-denominational relations in Kyiv.

According to the KSCA web site, Oleksandr Popov called on denominations to organize more meetings together and underlined that the city will continue a policy of equality and tolerance for each denomination in the capital.

"Every religious community is a certain number of people living in the city, and we as authority should respect religious beliefs of every citizen of Kyiv. We have 55 religious communities of different denominations, that’s why we certainly should respect interests of all of them", – said the KSCA chairman.

The meeting was attended by the First Deputy Minister of Culture Yuriy Bohutskiy, the chairman of the Standing Committee of Kyiv City Council on Culture and Tourism Oleksandr Brygynets, the Director of Personnel Certification Department of the Ministry of Education, Science, Youth and Sports of Ukraine Victor Bondarenko and others.

During the meeting was also presented an updated version of the "Churches of Kyiv" publication.

By IRF

15/02/2012

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Minister of Culture of Ukraine calls to change the Law “On the Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations"

oksana — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:45:12 +0000

In order to improve the current legislation in the area of interethnic and interdenominational relations, the Ministry of Culture prepared alterations to the Law of Ukraine “On the Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations”.

So stated the Minister of Culture of Ukraine, Mykhaylo Kulynyak at the extended session of the Ministry collegium on the results of the activity of the last year and objectives for 2012 held on January 31 in the National Philharmonic of Ukraine, reports the Institute for Religious Freedom.

On 11 January, at the Parliamentary hearings on the ethnic-national policy of Ukraine, Mykhaylo Kulynyak stressed the necessity to change the current legislation.

According to the Minister, the new wording of the Law on the Freedom of Conscience is aimed to strengthen the legal basis of the freedom of religion.

He also noted that the main objective in the area of the church-state relations is to be the creation of favorable conditions for the realization of the spiritual mission of the church.

“It is crucial that the state should clearly define its obligations with respect to the church, the range of the powers within its capacity, which will make its policy on the church transparent and open to the public”, – said the Minister.

It will be recalled that the working group on the preparation of the draft laws in the area of the freedom of religion, set up by the Ministry of Culture in March, 2011 with the participation of representatives of the denominations, did not consider per se the content of the mentioned draft laws. The representatives of the denominations informed the Ministry’s leadership at once about the position of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (UCCRO), which considers inexpedient to make hasty alterations to the effective Law in the present situation.

“The common position of the denominations in the raised issue has remained unchanged: without consensus about the proposed legislative changes , the development of the new wording of the Law of Ukraine «On the Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations» should be postponed”, – reads the address to the President passed by UCCRO on July 19, 2011.

In addition, one should note that the question of religion have been repeatedly specified in the Ministry’s reports and other governmental documents in the section on ethnical and national policy and national minorities.

By RISU

Issue of Freedom of Worship Maintenance remains without Attention of Representatives of Authorities

09/02/2012

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