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Conference on Totalitarian Sects
RISU.org.ua (16.10.2002)/HRWF Int. (09.12.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net C An international scholarly conference entitled Totalitarian Sects: A Threat to Human Rights in Eastern Europe was held in central Ukrainian Vinnytsia from 8 to 10 October 2002. It was organized by Dialogue, the All-Ukrainian Center of Religious Security and Assistance to Victims of Destructive Sects, and the Vinnytsia eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP).
Famous scholars, theologians, physicians, lawyers, psychologists, psychiatrists, priests and people who had contacts with new religious movements participated in the conference. They expressed their serious concern over the threat to human rights and democratic freedoms which is posed by what they consider to be totalitarian sects and destructive cults.
Bearing traces of undisguised expansionism, the uncontrolled activities of totalitarian sects cause irreparable damage to peoples health, disregard fundamental human rights, and pose a considerable threat to the family, society and the country in general, reads the press release of Dialogue.
In addition, the participants of the conference identified what they believe may be called totalitarian sects. According to them, these are special authoritarian organizations whose leaders strive for authority over their followers, exploit them and conceal their real intentions under religious, political, psychotherapeutic, sanitary, educational, academic, cultural and other purposes.
The participants believe that such sects censor all external information and practice hazardous hypnotic trances, scaring and intimidation, as well as financial exploitation.
It was also noted that the activities of so-called totalitarian sects has caused responses from public organizations and governments of Western European countries, the interference of the Council of Europe, as well as changes in legislation. Therefore, the participants of the conference believe that today what they consider religious sects have shifted their activities to the countries of Eastern Europe.
During the conference, the participants passed a declaration and addressed the authorities and the general public, claiming that the current law On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations does not protect citizens rights from so-called totalitarian sects.
The time has come to coordinate cooperation between Eastern European organizations that would allow the exchange of practical and academic experience and information, as well the consolidation of efforts with the Ukrainian authorities, the Council of Europe, and other international organizations in solving the problem of religious sects in Eastern Europe. The participants of the conference propose the creation of a confederative Eastern European organization and invite their colleagues from other Eastern European countries to join the initiative, reads the declaration.
Source: www.orthodox.org.ua
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Ukrainian authorities keeping a closer eye on Catholic priests
Security Service curious about finances and political climate
Zenit.org (17.09.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (19.09.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net - Catholic priests are increasingly being monitored by officers of Ukraine's security service SBU, the former KGB, an official of the group Aid to the Church in Need told Keston News Service.
A Greek Catholic priest from eastern Ukraine, who visited Germany recently, was just the latest to mention regular visits by SBU agents to his home, the official reported.
"This is not the old war against religion," declared the official, who preferred not to be named. "But for the priests involved, it is certainly discomforting."
The chief press officer of the SBU denied that any Catholic priests were being questioned. "The SBU doesn't interfere in religious questions or the life of churches," Oleksandr Skrupnyk told Keston from Kiev.
But the Aid to the Church in Need official, who has regular contact with Catholic priests from all over Ukraine, referred to many complaints from Church workers about their phones being tapped. One new area of enquiry recently has been the financial state of individual Catholic parishes and organizations. "Such financial monitoring is being stepped up," he said.
The SBU is also interested in Catholic priests as a source of information on the general political mood of the population.
"They knock on the door, introduce themselves as being from the secret police, and start asking questions," the official quoted the visiting priest as saying. Some priests just laugh about such visits, the official added, but some express concern about what this might lead to, given the traditional anti-Catholic sentiment in the east of the country being fanned anew by the Moscow Patriarchate in the wake of the recent establishment of new Latin- and Greek-Catholic dioceses in eastern Ukraine.
The official noted that several years ago, Greek Catholic Bishop Yulian Boronovskyi of Sambir-Drohobych publicly told the SBU not to question Catholic priests and not to expect them to cooperate with such enquiries because it is forbidden them under Church law. "However, the SBU has obviously not given up trying," the official said.
The papal nuncio in Kiev, Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, said that he was unaware of any stepped-up questioning of Catholic priests by the SBU. He also said he was unconcerned by any surveillance.
"We have no secrets," the nuncio said. "Anyone can come to our services and hear what our Church is doing."
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