Ukrainian Churches against the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, due to the ‘gender ideology’

 

Orthodox and other Churches in Ukraine are opposed to President Zelensky’s ratification of the Istanbul Convention protecting women against violence and domestic abuse because of the ‘gender ideology’ included in the Convention. They complain about being excluded from the public debate.

 

 

Position of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations

 

RISU – (05.07.2022) – https://bit.ly/3uPflZr – The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention, was signed 11 May 2011 and became effective 1 August 2014. Official opposition to the Convention has been voiced in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia, none of which has ratified it, and in Poland. Armenia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, and the United Kingdom have not ratified it. Turkey denounced the Convention in 2021, alleging that LGBTQ groups had sought to use it to promote their ideology.

 

On 18 June 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky registered a bill on the ratification of the Convention in parliament. Parliament ratified it and the president signed it into law on 21 June, effective 1 October. Afterwards, the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations objected that a full public discussion had not taken place, as had been promised (UGCC website, 24 June 2022).

 

Instead, the Council alleged, social media had been full of verbal attacks on religious organizations. The Council noted that religious persons and organizations are entitled to take part in all public discussions, and should not be excluded from the public forum.

Read the whole article here.

Position of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC)/ Moscow Patriarchate

Union of Orthodox Journalists (27.06.2022) – https://bit.ly/3RxJMwW On June 21, 2022, the President of Ukraine signed a law, which had been opposed by all religious organizations in Ukraine and a significant part of society. Why?

On June 20, 2022, the Verkhovna Rada voted for the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, the next day the President signed the law on the ratification of the Convention: “Its main content is simple, but extremely important. It is an obligation to protect women from violence and all forms of discrimination. We share European values.” But Ukrainian society, notably Christians, does not share the head of state’s optimism. What’s next?

Read the whole article here. It addresses the following topics:

Why Ukraine ratified the Istanbul Convention

The main destructive provisions of the Convention

  1. Popularization of gender ideology at all levels of education, culture and sports.
  2. Destruction of traditional ideas about social roles.
  3. Ample room for abuse

What are we to do now?

Conclusions

 

Photo: UOJ