Подаємо повний текст виступу Посла Тетяни Іжевської на конференції ОБСЄ у Відні на тему боротьби з нетолерантністю та дискримінацією християн.

Користуючись наданою можливістю виступити в ОБСЄ Посол акцентувала увагу учасників заходу на злочинних діях та фактах порушення релігійних прав громадян України у Криму та на Донбасі.

 

Conference on Combating Intolerance and Discrimination

against Christians

14 December 2016

OSCE Congress Centre, Hofburg, Ratsaal

Heldenplatz, 1010 Vienna

 

Session I: Security of Christian communities across the OSCE region

 

           Ambassador Tetiana Izhevska

Ambassador of Ukraine to the Holy See  and former Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on

Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination, also Focusing on

Intolerance against Christians and Members of Other Religions       

 

             

The promotion and pursuit of tolerance and mutual understanding is fundamental in an area as diverse as the OSCE region is.
It is clear that in order to live together, society must be tolerant and accord each other mutual respect.

Christianity is the largest religion in Europe. More than 70 percent Europeans considered themselves Christians. Religion played a vital part in world history. And today in a modern cosmopolitan world it becomes even more important as an instrument to guarantee global stability. To ensure a prosperous and harmonious future, people of different faith must live peacefully together. Religion should never be used to justify violence.

When thinking about interaction of different religions, I recall the words of Pope Francis: "It is impossible to achieve real peace if everyone measures the world according to his criteria only, if everyone advocates his own rights only without caring about other's well-being".
It means mutuality.

It means that to live in peace people must be tolerant.

But what is tolerance?

 

“Tolerance is an active recognition of diversity and means respecting the otherness of the other with whom we differ religiously, culturally, or otherwise, with compassion and benevolence.
Tolerance requires mutuality and is a precondition for a culture of peace ”

( Istanbul Declaration on Tolerance ).

 

 

In 2011 the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly adopted a Resolution on combating intolerance and discrimination against Christians in the OSCE area. Thereby Parliamentary Assembly recommended that a "public debate on intolerance and discrimination against Christians be initiated and that the right of Christians to participate fully in public life be ensured" that, "in view of discrimination and intolerance against Christians, legislations in the participating States, including labour law, equality law, laws on freedom of expression and assembly, and laws related to religious communities and right of conscientious objection be assessed" and encouraged "the media not to spread prejudices against Christians and to combat negative stereotyping" and encouraged "Christian churches to continue their participation in public life contributing to the defense of the dignity of all human beings and to freedom and social cohesion".

Nevertheless, I regret to say that the persecution of  Christians and acts of vandalism against  Christian  sacred sites have the tendency to aggravation. Discrimination and intolerance towards Christians are present in today's society and manifest themselves in many different ways and remain a continued threat to peaceful co-existence and community cohesion in many parts of the OSCE region. In spite of the commitments undertaken by member States of the OSCE in the area of religious freedom, in some countries intolerant and even discriminatory laws, decisions and behavior, either by actions omission, which deny this freedom, still exist against Christian Church and Christian communities, as well as their members.

In 2013 (the year of my mandate) I was shocked to know about a destruction of a statue of Our Lady in Bordeaux. An indication for a hate-motivated crime was the fact that the head of the statue could not be found.

What do we  witness in 2016?

 
-  The statues of the Virgin of Candelabra and Santo Herman Pedro were beheaded by unknown vandals in a sanctuary in the mountain town of Cabo Bianco in Tenerife (Spain).

-  The statue of Saint Petronio, the civil and religious symbol of Bologna was defaced with "Allah Akbar" painted on the face (Italy).

-  The mountain top statue of Virgin Mary of la Fontaine du lac de Nino holding the infant Jesus was attacked, with the heads and arms of both figures cut off (Corsica, France).

-  Bonn Basilica vandalized, and etc.

 

Moreover, in some countries that are the OSCE Partners for co-operation, including in the Mediterranean region, Christians also face flagrant intolerance, discrimination nd hate crimes.

In 2013 an armed attack that took place in Egypt at the end of a wedding ceremony in a Coptic church resulted in numerous human casualties.


11 December 2016 (approximately the same   period as it was 2013).

A bomb explosion in the Coptic Christian St Mark's cathedral in the Egyptian capital Cairo has  killed at least 25 people. Dozens of others were injured in the blast in a chapel during a Sunday service. Many of the victims are women and children.

 

As I've already mentioned discrimination and intolerance present in today's society manifest themselves in many different ways and cause a threat to peaceful co-existence in many parts of the OSCE area.

The war in eastern part of Ukraine caused by Russian aggression is an evidence of how religion may become a weapon, how religion may be used and is used as ground for persecution, torture and even the murder of priests and believers.
The Russian-backed militants exploit religion as justification for violence. Persecution based on religious belief appears to be part of a well-coordinated policy. Only the believers of Moscow Patriarchy Orthodoxy are free from persecution and are able to practice their religion freely. Moreover, the Orthodox religion is used as an ideological foundation of "state building" by armed groups. The dominance of one Church (Russian Orthodox) is evident. Unlawful armed groups, under the banners of the Russian Orthodox Army, flag that depicts a Christian cross and icon,  started a Russian World "crusade" across the Donbas region. But we must underline. It is well known that any religious armed groups are considered as terroristic.

Discrimination on religious bias is evident in the annexed Crimea as well.
Numerous incidents of religious persecution and restrictions of religious freedom in the Donbas and Crimea should be investigated thoroughly.

Touching upon the eventual prospects of combating discrimination against Christians it is necessary to underline that many existing problems are often associated with complicated relationship between representatives of different beliefs or a need to strike a wise balance between religion and secular society. Apart from state' action on fighting intolerance and discrimination, different social and religious communities should better organize themselves to confront the phenomena and enhance their cooperation with public institutions. However, it is important to see the big picture and not just to defend once own narrow interests. We have to admit that literally everyone of us may be discriminated in a certain sense. In my understanding the problem of discrimination and intolerance is a common issue that demands joint efforts.

A significant responsibility in this respect lays on social and religious leaders who can make a difference by condemning such acts, making joint statements of solidarity with victim communities and appearing in public together to send a signal of mutual tolerance and acceptance.

Different fora proved to be a powerful and successful platform to impulse social and inter religious dialogue. Indeed, there is always a room in this life for dialogue and accord when representatives of different groups meet, freely exchange opinions and discuss the burning issues. Let me give you just one example.

30 years passed since Pope John Paul II invited representatives of the world religions to the first World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi, Italy in 1986 to spend a day together with fasting and praying.

The 30th meeting of World Religious Leaders took place again in Assisi in September this year.

I can not but underline the key role of education in promotion of mutual respect and understanding as well  as inter religious dialogue, necessary to combat intolerance and discrimination.

 

And let me give you as an example, in the context of the above mentioned dialogue between religious communities and their leaders,  Pope Francis' personal message to Muslims around the world in which the leader of Catholics expressed his esteem and friendship for all Muslims, especially those who are Religious Leaders, focusing exactly on the theme of promoting mutual respect through education. The message stressed the importance of thinking, speaking and writing respectfully about others and always avoiding unfair criticism or defamation. Families, schools, religious teaching and the media, it said, all have a role to play in achieving this goal.

 

Once again social and religious leaders, enjoying the status of moral authority within their communities, may and should play the special role in education of the younger generation. -  in the spirit of compassion, responsible behavior and peace. They should give an example and inspire young generation to become messengers of peace not drawn into radical confrontations. Proper education in the spirit of mutual respect is indeed one of the key elements to succeed in combating discrimination and intolerance. Youth may not only constitute a prerogative target group but has to become an advanced environment and progressive part of society as it concerns combating discrimination and to become a powerful engine for generating new ideas in this respect. A stake must be made on young people also taking into consideration the power of internet and social networks, so highly used by young generation, which may trigger truly multiplied and turbulent positive effects in combating against discrimination and intolerance.

 

 

In this respect I would like to mention the OSCE-supported Central Asian Youth Network (CAYN) seminar on "Empowering Youth against Violent Extremism" in Almaty(2013). I led and moderated group discussions on promoting tolerance and preventing violent extremism and radicalization. I had a truly exciting possibility to speak to youth from Central Asian countries and explain them why the dialogue is so important to avoid or to solve conflicts. Such kinds of discussions are extremely useful, but not only for young generation. I think they also give rich material for reflection to adults, thus ensuring it to be a two-way traffic and facilitating both policy making and policy implementation in the area of fighting against racism, xenophobia, discrimination and intolerance.

 

In my opinion social and religious dialogue, cultural inclusion and education in the spirit of mutual respect, tolerance, compassion, responsible behavior and peace are the essential elements to succeed in combating against discrimination and intolerance, including against Christians.

 

 

In conclusion, I want to say that the current situation of our globalized world,  which changes every second,   challenges us with a new responsibility:  to humbly but firmly oppose intolerance and discrimination.