Commentary to Decree No. 184 of 25 May 2017

    Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko signed Decree No. 184 “On amending the decrees of the President of the Republic of Belarus” on 25 May. In accordance with this document, new awards were instituted in the country.

    The system of state awards in Belarus was formed taking into account rich positive experience of the Soviet award system, the national interests and priorities of sovereign Belarus. The existing award system is an optimal system acknowledged by the people, the list of state decorations includes awards for achievements in all walks of life of the state and the society and does not require drastic changes.

    At the same time, the priorities of the social and economic development of the country, the role of public opinion, the need to unify major approaches to the evaluation of the achievements of people in the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union necessitate the continuous process of optimizing the award system in a way to add new awards, revise the status and design of awards, specify the procedure of conferring state awards.

    For this purpose, the Belarusian president has signed an executive order to set up a taskforce for the comprehensive analysis of the national system of state awards and submit proposals regarding its improvement to the head of state.

    As a result of the joint work of all interested government bodies, new state awards have been instituted in Belarus. In particular, the Order for Promotion of Peace and Friendshipis bestowed upon foreign heads of state, high-ranking officials, outstanding politicians and public figures in recognition of considerable achievements in the enhancement of peace, friendship, cooperation, and mutual understanding between nations. The Order of Labor Glory is awarded in recognition of the labor achievements of Belarusian people in various fields, first of all, in the manufacturing sector and agriculture. The Medal for Saved Life is conferred on people for saving the lives of people in high-risk emergencies.

    The People’s Teacher title and the People’s Doctor title have been instituted in Belarus to emphasize the social role of teachers and doctors. These honorary titles are conferred in recognition of many-year productive work (at least 20 years). This decision will help raise the prestige of these professions and will become an additional moral stimulus for teachers and doctors.

    Besides, the design of the Order of Friendship of Peoples has been revised, and the design of the Medal of Francysk Skaryna has been changed significantly.

    People receiving letters of commendation from the president will also receive a special lapel pin. This pin testifies to the head of state’s attention to the achievements of awardees.

    In accordance with the decree, certain legal acts regarding the conferment of state awards will be harmonized with the legislation. In particular, the document introduces amendments to the description of orders, medals and honorary titles of the Republic of Belarus, introduces two kinds of letters of commendation (for private individuals and organizations of teams of workers), and regulates other related issues.