Havel calls for solidarity with those living in non-freedom

Bývalý český prezident Václav Havel v polské Vratislavi převzal cenu Jana Nowaka-Jezioranského za příspěvek k obraně lidských práv a za zásluhy v boji za svobodu a demokracii.

published: 04.06.2009, 15:26 | updated: 04.06.2009 15:32:13

Havel: Jsme povinni být solidární s těmi, kdo nemají svobodu

Cracow - The countries that experienced totalitarian regimes must show solidarity with those who live in totalitarian or authoritative states, former Czechoslovak and Czech president Vaclav Havel said at celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism in Poland.

Havel mentioned Burma, North Korea, Cuba and Iran in this connection.

He said it is necessary to point out in the European Union, NATO and other similar organisations that "there are countries in which there are political prisoners, in which human dignity is humiliated, in which freedoms and human rights are suppressed."

Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer told Czech journalists that 20 years after the fall of communism "we live in normal conditions like the previous generations were used to."

He said democratic institutions and a market economy have been built in the Czech Republic, but added that there have been a number of failures as well.

"We are witnesses to surging extremism, but on the other hand, we have democratic means to deal with it," Fischer said.

"I think that we are sometimes even unable to appreciate what we have managed to do in the twenty years and in what we live now," he said.

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz

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Tags: Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, history, summit, V4,