MOSCOW, February 12 (RAPSI) – The Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights has put forward a proposal to amend the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which the UN General Assembly adopted on December 10, 1948, Izvestia newspaper reported on Thursday, citing council member Leonid Polyakov.

The move was precipitated by the fact that many countries disregard the declaration, according to the newspaper. For example, although one of its articles says that “everyone has the right to life,” peaceful civilians are being killed in southeastern Ukraine. And this is not the only such example.
The newspaper writes that the council plans to present its proposal at an international human rights forum planned on May 9, 2015, the day of the 70th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War.

Leonid Polyakov, who proposed holding the forum, said the goal is “to draw attention to the fact that the declaration articles that guarantee life, liberty and security of person and protection from torture or cruel treatment are disregarded in the national and international practice.”

The amendments would concern Article 4 (prohibition of slavery and the slave trade), Article 13 (freedom of movement and residence), Article 18 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion), Article 19 (freedom of opinion and expression) and Article 21 (the right to take part in the government of his country).

Polyakov said they see a problem in the Charlie Hebdo tragedy, which is an example of how the right to freedom of conscience comes into conflict with the right to freedom of speech. “The right to freedom of conscience means that people are free to embrace any religion and that this right must be protected against any infringement,” Polyakov said. “At the same time, the freedom of speech can be interpreted as the freedom to say anything disregarding the feelings of other people.”

On January 7, 2015, two Islamist gunmen forced their way into and opened fire in the Paris headquarters of the French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12. The attack was presumably in response to a number of controversial Muhammad cartoons the magazine published.