Name: Václav Havel European Dialogues - Human rights and values in international affairs
Start: 2025-11-19T19:00:00+01:00
Location: Knihovna Václava Havla

$V\u00e1clav Havel European Dialogues - Human rights and values in international affairs$

In the aftermath of 1989, Vaclav Havel thought that human rights, democratic values and foreign policy could advance hand in hand. Today the dominant trend seems, on the contrary, to favour power politics at the expense of Havel’s legacy. The language of human rights, spoken in the past by dissidents, and still used today by lawyers and advocates for victims’ groups, is rarely shared by diplomats and the wider public. In an international arena marked by brutal conflict and war, human rights discourse seems increasingly inadequate. What is left of Havel’s legacy is the possibility to formulate a foreign policy that does not ignore the defence of human rights.
The Vaclav Havel Library, in cooperation with the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University and supported by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, has invited Michael Ignatieff, politician, academic and author, to address the issue of human rights in international affairs. He will discuss this topic with Martin Palous, Jiri Pehe and Jacques Rupnik, who will chair the event.
Michael Ignatieff is an author, academic and former politician who served as chair of Canada’s Liberal Party and leader of the opposition from 2008 until 2011. A historian by training, Ignatieff has been a professor at Harvard, where he was director of the Carr Center for Human Rights at the Kennedy School of Government. Most recently, he served as rector and president of Central European University. Ignatieff became well known as a television and radio broadcaster and as an editorial columnist. His numerous books include On Consolation: Finding Solace in Dark Times, which was published in a Czech translation in 2023.
Martin Palouš was prominently involved in Charter 77 and the Civic Forum. In his diplomatic career he served as a deputy minister of foreign affairs before becoming ambassador to the United States and to the United Nations. Palous is director of the Václav Havel Program for Human Rights and Democracy at Florida International University.
Jiri Pehe is a political commentator and writer. He was director of New York University in Prague (1998-2025). Pehe headed the Political Department at Prague Castle under Czech President Václav Havel and presently serves as an external foreign policy adviser to the country’s current head of state, Petr Pavel.
Jacques Rupnik is a senior research fellow at CERI and professor at Sciences Po in Paris and at the College of Europe in Bruges. Rupnik has been a leading analyst of political life in Central and Eastern Europe for the past 50 years and served as a foreign policy adviser to President Vaclav Havel.