Council : United Nations General Assembly

Country : Republic of Belarus

Topic : Reassessing Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Delegate : Rafi Fauzan Abdillah

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) defined human rights as recognition of

the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family,
which is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. UDHR has been an important
part on the way to ensure the creation of many treaties in order to fulfill the obligation to protect
human rights throughout the world.1 Andrei Dapkiunas, Belarus' Deputy of MFA said in his speech
back in 2018, that the adoption of UDHR was a step by the Member States of the UN, including
Belarus, on the approval of humane principles for further development of humanity.2 Moreover,
UDHR laid the foundation for international standards in the field of human rights and gave impetus
to their implementation in international and national legislation. However, with all violation on
human rights throughout the world is happening, the UDHR has been criticized for just being a
mere-declaration. Belarus agreed that We agree all too often on principles, but practice and
enforcement have not kept pace with pronouncements.
Republic of Belarus has been known for years that such human rights violation is
happening in our countries.3 However, Republic of Belarus has been doing our best to sustain the
protection of human rights in our country. Such example of our effort is our submission to
universal periodic review (UPR) created by the UNHRC.4 We are adopting most of suggestions
made by the Human Rights Council. Belarus remains committed to the universal periodic review
process, which is a non-alternative monitoring instrument for development and human rights in all
states, without exception, based on constructive dialogue and cooperation.
We want to share our ideas to the world on how to make sure UDHR is something that can
be fully adopted by every country. UDHR should be something that build and preserve the culture
that already exist, while also keep up with the modernization. Therefore, we would like to propose
an idea of Revising the UDHR with considerations and mechanisms as stated below:

1United Nations. "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" Retrieved on 16th June, 2021 from https://www.un.org/en/about-
us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
2Belarus MFA. "Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus A. Dapkiunas participates in the ceremony on the occasion of the

70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights" Retrieved on 16th June, 2021 from
https://mfa.gov.by/en/press/news_mfa/ecf614603cc6f38e.html
3Amnesty International. "Amnesty International Report 2020/21: The State of The World's Human Rights". Retrieved on June

16th, 2021 from https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/europe-and-central-asia/belarus/report-belarus/

4Belarus MFA. "UN Human Rights Council adopts the outcome of the universal periodic review of Belarus". Retrieved on June

16th, 2021 from https://mfa.gov.by/en/mulateral/human_rights/review/

5Belarus MFA. "Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus A. Dapkiunas participates in the ceremony on the occasion of the

70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights" Retrieved on 16th June, 2021 from
https://mfa.gov.by/en/press/news_mfa/ecf614603cc6f38e.html
 1. Reiterating that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was enacted in 1948,
therefore revision and improvement is needed to ensure the declaration can be fully
accepted by member of state. Ensuring variables such as representation of culture, religion
and indigenous people, and also a revision regarding how the world has changed to a more
modern one can be a turning point for the declaration itself.
2. We would like to invite every member of the assembly in the upcoming council session to
participate in order to create a brand-new Human Rights declaration that ensure the
representation of each group throughout the world;
3. Following previous article, we would like to propose an idea of a Revising Committee.
This committee will include representation of each region throughout the world, including
South and Southeast Asia, East Asia, Middle East, Western Europe, Eastern Europe,
Africa, North America, Central America and Caribbean, and Latin America. The
committee will be equally represented so there will be no under-represented region.
4. In order to ensure the compliance of each member, a collaboration within universal
periodic review (UPR) program created by UNHRC is needed, therefore giving
recommendations to improve the human rights in their respective country.

The UDHR itself was a created within 2 years, which is not a short amount of time. Yet
the UDHR still found flaws. Therefore, with a help of every country on this council, we are hoping
that by revising the UDHR, we can be on the same page on collaborative effort to sustain the
protection of human rights.

Bibliography:
UN General Assembly. (1948). "Universal Declaration of Human Rights".
Amnesty International. (2017). "Amnesty International Report 2020/21: The State of The
World's Human Rights". www.amnesty.org
Dolinger, J. (2016). "The Failure of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights". The
University of Miami Inter-American Law Review, 47(2), 164-199. Retrieved June 17,
2021, from https://jstor.proxy.undip.ac.id/stable/26788283