On May 25, the Head of State, Alexander Lukashenko, signed Decree No. 184 "On Amendments to Decrees of the President of the Republic of Belarus," in accordance with which new state awards have been established. BELTA was informed about this by the press service of the Belarusian leader.
On May 25, the Head of State, Alexander Lukashenko, signed Decree No. 184 "On Amendments to Decrees of the President of the Republic of Belarus," in accordance with which new state awards have been established. BELTA was informed about this by the press service of the Belarusian leader.
The system of state awards of Belarus was formed taking into account the rich positive experience of the Soviet award system, national interests, and priorities of sovereign Belarus. The existing award system is generally optimal, it is accepted by the people, and the list of awards covers all major areas of state and public life and does not require fundamental changes.
At the same time, clarifying the priorities of the country's socio-economic development, studying public opinion, and the expediency of uniformity in the main approaches to assessing the merits of citizens in the EAEU countries provide grounds for a continuous process of optimizing the award system – supplementing the list of state awards, clarifying the status and appearance of existing awards, and refining the procedure for awarding state awards.
For this purpose, a working group was created by the order of the President of Belarus, whose task was to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the national system of state awards and submit proposals to the Head of State for its improvement.
As a result of the joint efforts of all interested state bodies, new state awards have been established in Belarus. In particular, the Order "For Strengthening Peace and Friendship," intended exclusively for awarding high-ranking officials of foreign states (heads of state, government, and parliament) for significant merits in strengthening peace, friendship, cooperation, and mutual understanding between peoples; the Order of Labour Glory, which will allow for a more differentiated assessment of the results of the labour activities of Belarusian citizens in various sectors, primarily in industry and agriculture; the Medal "For a Saved Life" - for awarding citizens who have saved human lives by risking their own, outside their official duties. The practice that existed until now of honouring citizens for brave and decisive actions to save people in various emergency situations with the Medal "For Courage" does not correspond to the historical status of this award, which was presented to citizens for courage and bravery shown while performing military duty.
Taking into account the special social significance of the professions of teacher and doctor, the honorary titles "People's Teacher" and "People's Doctor," which existed in Soviet times, have been revived. The conferment of these titles is carried out on the condition of prolonged (at least 20 years) and nationally recognised professional activity. Such a step by the state contributes not only to raising the status of the truly popular and mass professions of teacher and doctor but also becomes an additional moral incentive for people in these professions.
At the same time, on the instructions of the Head of State, the appearance of the Order of Friendship of Peoples has been refined, and the design of the Medal of Francysk Skaryna has been fundamentally changed.
Individuals awarded the Gratitude of the President will now also receive a special badge. This badge is an external distinguishing mark of the Head of State's attention to the merits of a citizen.
In this regard, the decree brings certain normative legal acts on state awards into compliance with legislation. In particular, amendments are made to the descriptions of orders, medals, and badges of honor of the Republic of Belarus; the list of honorary titles is supplemented with newly established ones concerning monthly monetary payments to citizens holding honorary titles; two types of special certificates for the Announcement of Gratitude of the President of Belarus (for individuals and for organizations or groups of employees of organizations) and the description of a special badge of honor for the Announcement of Gratitude of the President of Belarus are approved; other controversial issues, the resolution of which is necessitated by the practice of awarding, are regulated.
News of Belarus (BELTA)