Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has created enormous threats and challenges to Ukraine and Ukrainians in a variety of spheres. Religion is no exception. The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) has endorsed and supported Putin’s attack of Ukraine. In response, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted Law No. 3894-IX banning the ROC and establishing a procedure to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its organizations as affiliated with the ROC unless they cut their connections with the ROC. Our analysis shows that the law does not comply with international FoRB standards. This conclusion is based on two basic premises. First, FoRB is a non-derogable right and cannot be limited by merely referring to the state of existential emergency; even in times of war, FoRB limitations must meet the necessity test required by Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Second, while the war can potentially justify broader FoRB limitations, the law does not comply with the necessity requirement as, given publicly available information, the Ukrainian government has so far failed to demonstrate that the UOC is institutionally involved in the activities undermining national security. Consequently, in violation of Article 18.3 of the ICCPR, the law imposes the ban merely for religious reasons (ecclesiastical connections with the Russian church) and is not necessary.
Clark et al. (Mon,) studied this question.