Report of the State Department for the Congress of the United States on religious freedom in Ukraine

The Ukrainian government on the whole observes the freedom of religion both according to the law and in practice.

This conclusion was made by the authors of the Report of the State Department for the Congress of the United States on international religious freedom for 2010. Human rights campaigning organizations consider the annual report on the legal status of religious freedom in over 190 countries of the world an authoritative source.

The report has been published in Washington. It says in the Chapter on Ukraine that the Constitution and other laws and political practice protect the freedom of religion. The government on the whole ensures the freedom.

According to the report, however, in controversies regarding ownership between different religious organizations, officials sometimes do not hold a neutral position but as a rule, the government acts on the side of the law. There are occasional reports on the cases of religious discrimination, such as anti-Semitism, anti-Islamic prejudices, criticism of Christian groups of a non-orthodox character.

There are cases of vandalism with respect to church buildings and cemeteries.

According to the report, in Ukraine, “various religious organizations constantly draw the attention of the government to their problems, peacefully settle the arguments between various sects and participate in discussing of the religious law.”

The Chapter “Religious Demography” includes the following information: according to the government’s calculation, there are 33 thousand religious organizations in Ukraine, 52 % of which belong to the Orthodox faith. There are 4 million Greek Catholics, a million Roman Catholics, over 300 thousand Baptists, half a million Muslims (even though their leaders claim that there are 2 million of them), 103,600 Jews. The other religious groups include Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Buddhists, reports Radio Freedom.