The U.S. Department of State has published its International Religious Freedom Report for 2011, which points out problem in this sphere in Ukraine.
In particular, according to the report that is available on the Web
site of the Department of State, the government did not demonstrate a
trend toward either improvements or deterioration in respect for and
protection of the right to religious freedom, while local officials at
times took sides in disputes between religious organizations.
“There were reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on
religious affiliation, belief, or practice. These included cases of
anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim discrimination as well as discrimination
against some Christian denominations. There were also reports of
vandalism of religious property,” reads the document.
According to the report, the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of
Ukraine reported some difficulties with registering new religious
communities in Crimea due to what it considered the political biases of
some local authorities.
Members of the Mejlis, the central executive body of the Crimean
Tatars, and Crimea-based human rights groups continued to criticize the
Crimean government for permitting schools to use textbooks that
contained inflammatory and historically inaccurate material about
Crimean Tatar Muslims, despite government promises to address their
concerns.
“Crimean Tatars claimed that propaganda campaigns, particularly by
pro-Russian groups, promoted hostility against them among other
inhabitants of Crimea,” reads the report.
The document also mentions that local authorities reportedly remained
unwilling to allocate land for some churches, in addition land
conflicts emerge, and there are problems with seizures of land and
property. In particular, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, as well as
Jewish and Muslim communities face such difficulties.
“There were several reports of anti-Semitic vandalism, including the
August 12 desecration of a Jewish cemetery in Pavlohrad, the defacement
of a Jewish community building in Sumy on October 12, the November 17
and November 19 desecrations of Holocaust monuments in Kirovohrad and in
Sevastopol, and the December 9 defacement of a synagogue in Sumy,”
reads the report.
The document also recalls that in September the nationalist political
party Svoboda organized a march called “Uman without Hasidim” to
protest the pilgrimage of Hasidic Jews to the grave of a prominent Rabbi
buried in Uman. Despite a court order prohibiting the protest,
approximately 100 protesters still showed up.
