The Universal Declaration of Human Rights became the first international legal document that the Republic of Uzbekistan joined after gaining its independence. For that reason this event is widely celebrating in Uzbekistan.

President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov signed a decree “On the Action Program dedicated to the 60th Anniversary of Adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” on 1 May 2008. The Decree foresees implementation of various activities in the field of human rights: in education, legal developments and improvement of access to justice. The country also allocated US$100,000 to the commemoration of the Declaration.

The Decree provides for further development of system of organizational-legal and legislative measures. These measures are aimed at ensuring reliable protection of human rights and freedoms in Uzbekistan.

Close cooperation with international organizations, first of all, with UN organizations and participation of Uzbekistan in the international events dedicated to the anniversary of adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are specifically envisaged.

In this contest, The University of World Economy and Diplomacy (UWED) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan - the most prestigious university in Central Asia - represented by Senior lecturer in International Law Mr. Khaydarali Yunusov and outstanding students of International Law Department Ms. Valeriya Ok and Mr. Husniddin Ochildiyev is taking part in International Forum dedicated to the 60-anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The International Forum is organized by Helsinki Espana - Human Dimension organization which is specialized in Human rights education and the Human Rights Foundation of the Regional Government of Valencia with the collaboration of the City of Valencia within Euro-American Project commemorating the 60 anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 10 anniversary of the Valencia Declaration of Human Duties and Responsibilities. Forum is taking place from 9 to 13 December 2008, in Valencia, Spain, and brings together 40 universities from around the world.

H.H. Princess Monika zu Löwenstein - President of Helsinki España, H.H Princess Nora de Liechenstein - Member of the International Olympic Committee, Professor D. Jose Vidal Beneyto - General Secretary of the European Agency for Culture of UNESCO and the Mediterranean Council for Culture, H.E Mr. Enrique Múgica - Ombudsman of Spain, H.E. Mr. Federico Mayor Zaragoza - President of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace, Former Director-General of UNESCO, Major General Mr. D. Anis A. Bajwa - Director, Office of the Under - Secretary‐ General of the United Nations Department of Peace Keeping Operations and other high level guest-speakers will join the participants during the Forum.

The UWED team participates in this International Forum - interuniversity contest with the research work entitled “Alternative or/and Complementary Declarations to the Universal Declaration of Human rights” which has been developed by team members over the last months. This research paper is dedicated to the analyses of the universality of UDHR through the complex analysis of seven declarations which have different backgrounds as well as contents. The list of declarations includes: The Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights of 1981, The Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam of 1990, The Bangkok Declaration of 1993, African Charter on Human and People’s Rights of 1981, The Declaration of Human Rights and Dignity of 2006, Valencia Declaration of Human Duties and Responsibilities of 1998, and UNESCO Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights of 1997.

In fact, there are several reasons why UWED team decided to work on this issue. The first reason is, according to the UWED team members, being a unique document, the UDHR has a comprehensive character both by content and legal effect. In this sense, it is of paramount importance to show its specific nature and universality. However, the effective way of doing this is to compare it with other declarations.

Secondly, not only universal, but alternative or/and complementary declarations play an important role in the formation of various mechanisms of protection of human rights as well as in the development of cultural and social values. Many countries in the Central Asian region, including Uzbekistan, have been enjoying their independence for quite a short period of time. Consequently, these days they improve their effective system of protection of human rights. In this sense, it is valuable for our counties to learn the experience of other regions in order to contribute to ours. Moreover, today our young generation suffers from the lack of information about such alternative or/and complementary universal or regional declarations on human rights. Besides, local researchers have been feeling scarcity of analytical research work in this matter. In order to fill this gap, we decided to make our small contribution to the development of human rights law in our country.

It should be pointed out that UWED team is still unique university from Central Asian countries which succeeded in participating in such international event and does hope to be found one of the bests among participating universities.