Thank you very much, sir.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the extraordinary privilege to address you on this very important issue of the protection and promotion of human rights.
I would like to remind you that I come from a country that has suffered for over 40 years under the very tough totalitarian regime of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. This is the background of the foreign policy of the Czech Republic as well. I have to say that human rights are the essential principle of the foreign policy of the Czech Republic, which is actually going through the whole new history of my country.
When I'm asked to talk about our policy towards Cuba, I have to say that our policy towards Cuba has nothing to do with the special attention paid by the Czech Republic to this country. It has to do with the fact that the Czech Republic is paying very special attention to the issue of the protection and promotion of human rights and democracy.
I have to say that we've had this topic in our priorities since the very beginning of the new history of my country in 1990. At that time, it was very closely connected with the former President of Czechoslovakia and later on the President of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel. His philosophy in this field was that the Czech Republic of the former Czechoslovakia had the obligation to share our experience of a totalitarian regime in Czechoslovakia with other members of international communities who share the same values of human rights and democracy.
When the Czech government decided to send our military forces to Afghanistan, the decision was based on exactly the same principles of protecting and promoting human rights. The basic principles of our policy were the same with other countries, and I'll mention Belarus or Myanmar in particular. The Czechoslovakian experience with a totalitarian regime, particularly with the transformation of the society from a totalitarian regime to a democracy, is something we bring as our contribution to international discussions on human rights.
The Czech Republic was and still is very actively participating in the work of various international organizations focused on human rights at the regional level, as well as at the global level. At the regional level, we are very active members of the Council of Europe, our organization for safety and cooperation in Europe. At the global level, the Czech Republic very actively participated in UN discussions on the transformation of the Commission on Human Rights into the Human Rights Council of the United Nations.
In terms of our discussion with Cuba, from the very beginning in our policy, I have to say the essential interest of my government was for open dialogue on human rights, the protection of human rights, conflict, or the compatibility of the protection of human rights with a regime connected to Communist ideology.
Our position is that no one country in the world could easily say it doesn't have a problem with human rights. Every country has these problems. This is not the criterion we should use for judging whether a country is or is not a good pupil in terms of the protection of human rights. The criteria should be on how far the country is open to dialogue, how far the country is open to discussions about its problem, and how far the country is committed to its international commitments under international agreements.
If we all share the same values incorporated within the various documents of the United Nations, and I'm talking particularly about protection on a global level, then we have to be sure we are talking in the same language, we are protecting the same values, and we share the same views on the protection of human rights.
In terms of Cuba, I have to say that unfortunately all of our efforts to establish some dialogue—we didn't want to solve the problem, we wanted to talk about the problem—were simply rejected. There is no dialogue, and what we received from the Cuban side was repression against the Czech embassy in Havana.
But I have to say that if we are serious in our efforts to promote human rights, regardless of where human rights could be or are violated, if it's in the territory of the Czech Republic or Belarus or Afghanistan, then we have to use the same measure for all members of the international community.
Ladies and gentlemen, today we are seriously discussing the role of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations. Very often we hear some complaints that the role this body is playing is not as important as it should be. We are listening to some complaints about the low efficiency of these institutions. But these institutions are us and no one else. It is member states. And if member states of this institution of the Human Rights Council—before it was the Committee on Human Rights—reject following the principles made by this organization, and these organizations are bodies accepting it, then we can't be surprised that the prestige of this institution is low.
When the former Commissioner on Human Rights of the United Nations decided to establish the role of the position of special rapporteur for Cuba, Cuba as the member state rejected talking to this special rapporteur and didn't even allow her to enter the country. So what do we expect?
I want to say that the policy of my country on Cuba—and today the Czech Republic is one of the leading UN countries focused on the situation in Cuba—has nothing to do with animosity. It has nothing to do with some problem with the regime in Cuba. We want to talk. We want to talk about the situation. We want to see some progress. We don't expect to solve it right now, but we need to see that there is goodwill in the official bodies of Cuba to solve the situation.
I don't want to talk too long, but I want to remind you of who the bodies are that are protected by all these international agreements for human rights. They are not governments; they are the individuals living in these countries. When we are sending our guys to be ready to offer the highest sacrifice for the protection and promotion of human rights in Afghanistan, at that moment my government feels totally obliged to ask and to force other governments to respect the essential principles of the international community on human rights and democracy.
Cuba has no excuse. The Cuban government has the same commitment to the international community as the others. The Czech Republic, as a country with its dark experience and history, feels not only obliged but totally committed to promoting these values and these principles. What we are offering is our experience. It's our experience of transformation of our society, with our success, with our mistakes, faults, and the wrong steps that we've done. As I've already said, we are not closing doors for any discussion about the human rights situation in the Czech Republic.
We know about the weaknesses. We know about the problems we have to solve, but this is the way we should work together. The role of international organizations is to focus on human rights.
Cuba, for us, is going through the same experience we went through 20 years ago. So we feel we are in a position to talk about this, to offer our experience.
From this point of view, of course, the Czech Republic is cooperating very closely with the opposition inside Cuba. Our embassy in Havana in particular cooperates very closely when various groups--it's difficult to say NGOs--focus on civil society. We cooperate closely with exiles in the United States. That's the role of our ambassador in Washington. We are in contact with various opposition groups in Latin America.
When I was deputy minister for foreign affairs in charge of human rights, I travelled frequently around Latin America, because we wanted to make this problem not a Czech-Cuban problem but a regional problem. Other countries should see the difference and should talk about this.
Of course, there is opposition in Europe as well, which is mostly located in Spain, so this is another group of opposition members.
What I should maybe say as my last remarks is that our former President, Václav Havel, is personally very much involved in various non-governmental organizations and movements focused on promotion and protection of human rights, not only in Cuba, but Cuba as well.
And once again I say our policy toward Cuba is not a particular policy toward one country. This is not a bilateral problem. Our policy is based on respect for these global values and principles.