Nowadays, human rights and freedoms and guarantees of their implementation are becoming basic values in development of society, both at national and international levels. The National Security Concept of the Republic of Belarus, approved by Presidential Decree No. 575 of November 9, 2010, mentions adherence to constitutional and human rights and freedoms among the principal national interests in political sphere.
The norms of international instruments concerning human rights and freedoms and implementation of these rights and freedoms are taken into account by states in the course of improvement of their national legislation. The Republic of Belarus has ratified many international treaties defining international standards on human rights, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (signed on 16 December 1966), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (signed on 16 December 1966), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (signed on 18 December 1979), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (signed on 20 November 1989). Belarus acceded to the Convention on International Access to Justice (signed on 25 October 1980), Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (signed on 28 July 1951) and is also party to other multilateral conventions. As far as the Commonwealth of Independent States is concerned, Belarus is a party to the CIS Convention on the Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (signed on 26 May 1995).
Human rights are enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, Art. 2, which states that the person, its rights, freedoms and guarantees of their attainment manifest the supreme goal and value for society and the state. The Constitution establishes the right to a decent standard of living, the right to equal protection of the rights and legitimate interests of everyone without any discrimination, the right to life, the right to protection from unlawful interference with privacy, including encroachments on the privacy of correspondence, telephone and other communications, honour and dignity, the right to freedom of movement and residence, the right to work, the right to a healthy environment, the right to freely elect and be elected to state bodies on the basis of universal, equal, direct or indirect suffrage by secret ballot. The Consitution also guarantees everyone freedom of opinion, belief and its expression, as well as other rights and freedoms and provides specific guarantees of their implementation (Art. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 30, 33, 38, 41 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus). The constitutional provisions on human rights and freedoms and their protection mechanisms are further developed in legislation concerning specific spheres of life.
The educational and methodological seminar on the theme “Mainstreaming of the Elements of Human Rights and Gender Equality Concept in the Educational Process of Higher Legal Education System of the Republic of Belarus” has been organised by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (Lund, Sweden). The seminar has been held at the Faculty of Law of the Belarus State Economic University in Minsk on 30-31 October 2015. The seminar provided representatives of scholarly and pedagogical community with an an opportunity to share their experience of teaching human rights to masters students and undergraduates studying law.
The organisers of the seminar did not limit human rights issues to some specific areas of law; and topics of presentations covered a wide range of rights, including personal, social, economic, cultural and environmental ones, both fixed in international instruments and national legislation, as well as gender equality issues. The breadth of the covered issues proves the complexity of the considered issues and need for further research on them.
The educational and methodological seminar gained international status. The scholars from the University of Belgrade (Serbia), Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (Sweden) and School of Law of Northeastern University (USA) attended the seminar. Representatives of the universities from different regions of Belarus, in particular Academy of Public Administration under the Aegis of the President of the Republic of Belarus, Belarus State University, Belarus State Economic University, Belarusian National Technical University, Belarusian Trade and Economic University of Consumer Cooperatives, Brest A.S. Pushkin State University, Vitebsk State P.M. Masherov University, Gomel F.Skorina State University, Grodno Y.Kupala State University and Polotsk State University participated in the event. The educational and methodological seminar has been attended by scholars from the National Center of Legislation and Legal Research of the Republic of Belarus.
The participants of the international educational and methodological seminar examined general problems of study of human rights and focused their attention on mainstreaming of human rights and gender equality issues in specific legal disciplines taught to undergraduate and masters students and involving the issues of general theory of law, constitutional and civil law, commercial law, family law, labour law, environmental law, copyright and related rights with regard to learning the basics of intellectual property management, as well as a number of other academic disciplines. The participants of the seminar discussed how human rights issues are studied in students’ research papers. Furthermore, attention was paid to human rights aspects in curricula of academic courses taught in the law clinic.
It is expected that the collection of articles prepared using the materials of the international educational and methodological seminar will be useful for university teachers, doctoral students, masters students, undergraduates, experts in the field of human rights and gender equality, as well as other persons interested in these issues and conducting research on human rights and gender equality.
The participants of the international educational and methodological seminar express their sincere gratitude to the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (Lund, Sweden) for organisation of the seminar and financial assistance in publication of its materials.
T. S. Taranova, Doctor of Law, Professor,
Head of a Department of the Belarus State Economic University
About the Press manager: Raoul Wallenberg Institute
No biography available at this time.About the Author: T.S Taranova
Doctor of Law, Professor,
Head of a Department of the Belarus State Economic University