Moscow, August 7, Interfax – The Ukrainian non-governmental organization Public Human Rights Protection has acted as a co-founder of the Eastern European Human Rights Protection Group comprised of representatives of human rights, religious and other NGOs from Ukraine, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia on the sidelines of the 38th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Public Human Rights Protection said on its website.
The group was set up to jointly protect the interests of Orthodox communities in various countries both as concerns the rights of religious organizations and individual believers and for presenting a common agenda of Christians on various humanitarian matters, it said.
The parties earlier decided on the sidelines of the 38th session of the UN Human Rights Council to endorse the Geneva declaration of protection of Christian values and the rights of believers, which lists principal areas of the group’s development.
Public Human Rights Protection has submitted the first package of documents concerning the observance of the rights of canonical religious organizations of Ukraine, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia to the UN Human Rights Council for consideration, it said.