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Ukrainian State and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Times of Russian Aggression: Religious Freedom, National Security, and the Rule of Law Contexts

March 14th 2024
7pm MT | 9PM ET 
In-person and online
Telus 134 - Telus International Centre
University of Alberta
11104 87 Ave NW, Edmonton

 

In this lecture, Dmytro Vovk will analyze the legal measures implemented by the Ukrainian state to restrict and/or ban the operation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church historically and ecclesiastically connected with the Moscow Patriarchate. He’ll explain how they have affected or, as with legislation that is still in progress, can affect religion-state relations and religious freedom of UOC communities and beyond. He will argue that, while this conflict is often framed as a “religious freedom versus national security” case, it should also be considered as a part of a broader decolonization and de-Russification agenda, which is endorsed by Ukrainian society and pushed forward by the Ukrainian state, but, in the case of religion, provoke human rights and rule of law concerns and require a more well-balanced approach.


Dmytro Vovk is a visiting associate professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and the director of the Center for the Rule of Law and Religion Studies at Yaroslav Mudryi National University in Kharkiv, Ukraine. He has been a rule of law and religious freedom expert for a variety of international and national organizations, including UN bodies, the OSCE. He also testified before the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Among his recent publications are the volume Human Dignity, Judicial Reasoning and the Law (Routledge 20124); the volume “Freedom of religion and gender equality across the OSCE region” for the Review of Faith and International Affairs (2022); the volume “The Soviet and post-Soviet law: failed transition from socialist legality to the rule of law” for the Ideology and Politics Journal (2021); and the volume Religion During the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict (Routledge 2019). Vovk is a co-editor of the Talk About: Law and Religion blog.