On May 18-19, 2021, Bishop Viktor Baryshevsky, Chairman of the Representation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to international European organizations, took part in the OSCE Stockholm Meeting on Freedom of the Media, which was held online. The event was attended by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Teresa Ribeiro, diplomats of the OSCE participating States, human rights defenders, journalists. This was reported by the Information and Educational Department of the UOC with reference to the press service of the Representative Office.
In his speech, Bishop Viktor briefly highlighted the main problems of the current situation of the UOC in Ukraine and especially emphasized the role of the media, both in covering violations of the rights of believers in the UOC and in the propaganda of hatred, which is often spread in the Ukrainian media.
Vladyka Viktor emphasized that the combination of impunity for violations of the rights of believers in the UOC with negative propaganda in the media regarding the UOC forms a tendency to increase the threat of new crimes on religious grounds. The media should cover events truthfully and not contribute to the incitement of religious hatred in the country, which meets the standards and meaning of modern journalism.
As an example of media propaganda of hatred against the UOC in the Ukrainian media, the publication in the official newspaper of the Ukrainian parliament “Voice of Ukraine” was cited, in which journalists once again spread false and obviously defamatory rhetoric against the UOC: insinuations clouding the brains of parishioners, in the Kiev-Pechersk and Pochaev Lavras they sell anti-Ukrainian literature.
Moscow priests refuse to perform the funeral service for the dead soldiers … ”. Unfortunately, this obvious lie is a rhetoric of hatred, which is used, among other things, by politicians and is even placed in some decisions of local self-government bodies, and is later broadcast by the media. At the same time, the official representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are not given the opportunity to refute unreliable facts or lay out an alternative point of view.
Such media content is aimed at fanning religious hatred and is a serious threat to public relations in the country.
On behalf of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Bishop Viktor Baryshevsky, Chairman of the Representation of the UOC to European International Organizations, called on the OSCE and representatives of the diplomatic environment to help improve the observance of human rights in the media in Ukraine, which can be achieved through appropriate international influence and projects aimed at preventing abuse in the media.
Earlier Bishop of Baryshevsky Victor (Kotsaba) has said in an interview: “LGBT propaganda cannot find a place in Orthodox consciousness” accusing the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine of purchasing, not so long ago, 1240 copies of a comic book entitled “Princess + Princess: Happily Ever After” for school and children’s libraries. The comic book, recommended for reading for children from 5 years old, describes the relationship between two women, which eventually ends with their “wedding”.
