The participants of the event, which took place on 16 November 2020 via video conference, exchanged their views on consolidating the efforts of international organizations, government agencies and civil society to ensure freedom of religion and belief at the global level.

In order to develop joint steps to combat violence based on religious intolerance, First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova drew attention to the ongoing large-scale violations of religious freedom in the temporarily occupied territories of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, in the city of Sevastopol and in some areas of Luhansk and Donbas regions. She also provided facts of Russian illegal actions.

‘‘The Russian occupation authorities have pursued a repressive discriminatory policy against members of various confessions for seven years. Persecution and harassment of religious communities have become the norm in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine”, said the First Deputy Minister.

In this regard, Emine Dzhaparova noted that issues of religious freedom will be in focus of the international coordination mechanism - the Crimean Platform, and invited foreign ministers and high-level representatives to participate in this format.

For Reference: the present meeting is the third Ministerial-level Meeting to Promote Freedom of Religion or Belief. It was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland with the support of the US State Department. The first meeting was held in 2018 in Washington at the initiative of the US State Department.