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The reception was attended by representatives of the foreign diplomatic corps in Argentina, national and City of Buenos Aires authorities, as well as political, social, and cultural figures. The words of welcome were delivered by H.E. Jarmila Povejšilová, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Argentina.
Jiří Kozák has served as First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic since 2021. He previously worked as Program Manager and Secretary of the Foreign Affairs Policy team of Civic Democratic Party (ODS); Member of Election Campaign Team of the SPOLU coalition; Member of the Steering Committee of European Network of Political Foundations; and Advisor to the Chairman of the Committee for European Affairs of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. As Director of CEVRO, he organized numerous political education and democracy-support projects both in the Czech Republic and abroad. He has lectured in many countries on human rights, political education, and the development of political parties and systems. He holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from Charles University in Prague. During his stay in Buenos Aires, Jiří Kozák was interviewed by La Nación newspaper.
During the reception, CADAL organized a raffle of Václav Havel’s biography written by Michael Žantovský, won by H.E. Torsten Ericsson, Ambassador of Sweden to Argentina.
Following the remarks of H.E. Jiří Kozák, the Czech Deputy Foreign Minister invited Gabriel C. Salvia, General Director of CADAL, to deliver a speech, which is reproduced below:
It is a great honor for me to take part in the reception of the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic, whom I first met some years ago as colleagues in civil society. It is truly admirable when individuals shaped by the ideals of civil society come to occupy such an important position within their country’s government.
I want to thank Deputy Foreign Minister Jiří Kozák, the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Argentina, and Natalie Maraková for considering me for the Gratias Agit Award, granted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, which I had the great honor of receiving last year. That honor, and the responsibility it entails, were twofold because of the other laureates’ high profile, and because I was the only one from Latin America to receive this important award in 2024.
Both personally and through the civil society organization I have directed since 2003, CADAL, which is dedicated to the universal promotion of human rights and international democratic solidarity, the Czech memorial policy and its intellectual, student, and political leaders have always been a reference point in our work. Milada Horáková, Jan Palach, the signatories of Charter 77, the members of the Civic Forum, and the Velvet Revolution are also a source of inspiration for the millions of people who, today, live under authoritarian regimes in one third of the world’s countries.
At CADAL, we established the Václav Havel Institute in 2012, following the death of the first president of the Czech Republic, with the authorization of his widow. Each year, the Institute organizes a conference on August 23, the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Totalitarianism, commemorating the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. This date was adopted by the European Parliament and, through CADAL’s initiative, enshrined into law in the City of Buenos Aires. Our Buenos Aires conference is inspired by the Forum 2000, created by Václav Havel in Prague.
Through CADAL, we seek to keep Havel’s legacy alive in the universal defense of human rights. As you know, the Preamble of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights stresses that “disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind,” and its first article affirms that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” All means all, including the more than three billion people who live in countries ruled by dictatorships or in areas of humanitarian crisis.
In the late 19th century, in his posthumous book The Crime of War, the Argentine thinker Juan Bautista Alberdi anticipated by a full century and with remarkable precision what we now call the “Responsibility to Protect.” He wrote: “When one or many individuals of a State are violated in their international rights, that is, as members of the society of humanity, even if by their own government, they may, invoking international law, appeal to the world to have those rights respected, even against the government of their country.”
Building an intellectual bridge with Alberdi, I would like to cite a phrase from Václav Havel, which offers an answer to the commitment that democracies must embrace in their foreign policy: “Personally, I tend to believe that we must confront evil in its embryonic state, before it has a chance to grow, and that human life, freedom, and the dignity of the individual are values higher than the sovereignty of States.”
