Prague, 15 November – The Government of the Czech Republic held the first ever meeting of the newly established Government Council for the Memory Agenda on 14 November in Prague. The Council was established by Government Resolution of 10 July 2024 and is an advisory and initiative body of the Government on issues related to the memory and remembrance agenda. The Prime Minister appointed Peter Rendek, Managing Director of the Platform, as a member of the Government Council for the Memory Agenda.
The Government Council has a total of 26 members, including representatives of the public administration and civil society, especially those involved in historical memory, education, culture of remembrance, and care for the victims of the Nazi and Communist regimes. The Council is chaired by Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who emphasised in his opening speech that coming to terms with the past is a complex process.
“It concerns especially countries that have experienced totalitarian regimes such as Nazism and Communism during the 20th century. Unfortunately, the Czech Republic was a victim of both of these totalitarianisms. Only a democratic state is able to learn from and come to terms with its past. This is important to ensure that the tragic events of the last century are never repeated and that we are able to develop and protect the democratic rule of law and civil rights, ” said Prime Minister Fiala, adding that the Council, as an advisory body to the Government, will contribute to a more systematic and conceptual approach to various aspects of the field of historical memory. Its mission is to monitor compliance with the Czech Republic’s constitutional order and its international human rights obligations in the context of overcoming social and other residues of totalitarian regimes in society. Its activities will contribute, among other things, to raising public awareness of the importance of resistance and resistance against totalitarian regimes and the general culture of human rights and mutual respect.
“By establishing the Government Council for the Memory Agenda, our state is signaling to all of its citizens that it is not indifferent to the experience of recent history and that it considers it important to work effectively with it,” said Klára Šimáčková Laurenčíková, the Government Commissioner for Human Rights and Vice-Chair of the Council.
At its last meeting, the Czech Government also approved the material “The focus and purpose of the call for grants to support memory agendas”. It thus created a new grant programme that will contribute to the promotion of human rights in the area of the rights of participants in the resistance and resistance against totalitarian regimes and to support educational and awareness-raising activities in this area.
