Human Rights in the Czech Foreign Policy
Human Rights in the Czech Foreign Policy

Author(s): Šárka Matějková, Veronika Bílková
Subject(s): Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Political history, Government/Political systems, International relations/trade, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010)
Published by: Ústav mezinárodních vztahů
Keywords: Human Rights; Czech Republic; Foreign policy; Transformation Policy;
Summary/Abstract: Since its creation in 1993, the Czech Republic has always ranked the promotion of human rights and spreading of democratic values among the priorities of its foreign policy. The period 2007–2009 was no exception in this regard. The country demonstrated its interest in human rights and democracy by fulfilling its obligations from international treaties, participating in the activities of international human rights bodies, struggling to reach its own thematic and territorial priorities, and realizing projects of the transition policy. Moreover, during the period of its Presidency in the Council of the EU in the first half of 2009, the Czech Republic sought to promote its own human rights priorities at the EU level and to gain the support of the other 26 EU states for them. Yet, the amount of political tasks, coupled with the necessity to look for com-promises and the accumulation of serious domestic problems, prevented the country from reaching this goal to its full satisfaction. Despite that, the period of the Presidency has brought valuable experiences, which, together with the change at the domestic political level, induced the country in the second half of 2009 to partly reassess the strategies and methods used in this area of foreign policy.

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