Overview:

• Recognition and registration are differentiated, however, there exists a focus on the latter as legal registration in the law while the former as existential recognition is less definitive in how it is achieved.

• The registration process is convoluted especially regarding that registration can be conducted with two different ministries; requires streamlining; adding further complexity to the registration process is the need for separate registration to acquire nonprofit status which highlights how religious and secular entity registration in this particular regard are not sufficiently distinguished from one another.

• A reregistration law was imposed due to the effects of the politicisation of religion whereby the OCU was granted autonomy from the UOC-MP.

• Issues of ongoing discrimination against atheists and the vandalism of Jewish sites need to be resolved through establishing a more robust recognition system whose authority should be affirmed in order to protect minorities and other vulnerable groups from discrimination.

Positive elements:

• Freedom of religion or belief is generally thought not broadly upheld by the Ukrainian government.

• The Ukrainian provides opportunity for registration a multiple levels of activity.

Recommendations:

• Dissolve membership quotas and the segmented structure of the recognition system.

• Establish more definitive procedures for existential recognition

• Reduce the convolution within the present procedures for registration as minor issues within the present system.

• Procedures for registration and recognition should be inclusive of all belief systems.

• Also to be classified dynamic, a recognition agency would need to be established that is independent of government control.