Working breakfast at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Georgia
Friday, December 13
To commemorate the International Day of Human Rights and the anniversary of memorable breakfast of French President Francois Mitterand with Czech dissidents in 1988 in Prague, on December 11 the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Georgia held a working breakfast to discuss the human rights situation in Georgia. The meeting was attended by human rights defenders from leading non-governmental organizations, representative of the Public Defender’s Office, Advisor to the Prime Minister of Georgia on Human Rights and Gender Equality, diplomats of the Embassy and a very special guest, Czech Member of European Parliament Marketa Gregorova. The participants analyzed the current state of human rights in the country, the relationship of the civil society and human rights defenders with the Government and the importance of international cooperation.
The Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Georgia H.E. Petr Mikyska talked with The Messenger about how the freedom of expression of the NGOs and the civil society in general is like a litmus paper for the level of freedom and democracy in a country. According to him, NGOs often address the diplomatic corps on how their work is getting harder to carry out. “It becomes an issue with our discussion with the Government, so it’s not unaddressed from our side. We’re not only receiving this kind of information, we’re also trying to communicate it to the Government and have a dialog on the subject. …We don’t consider this as an involvement in internal affairs of Georgia, but on the contrary - it’s our attempt to assist the Georgian Government to develop communication with the civil society,” said the Ambassador.
