Czeslaw Walek (born 31 January 1975) is a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

lawyer and

LGBT activist Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Some focus on equal rights, such as the ongoing movement for same-sex marriage, while others focus on liberation, as in the ...

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

origin. He served as Deputy Minister of Human Rights and Minorities from 2009 to 2011, and is the founder and chairman of the Prague Pride association that organises the annual festival of the same name.

Early life and education

Walek grew up in

Třinec Třinec (; pl, Trzyniec ; german: Trzynietz) is a city in Frýdek-Místek District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 34,000 inhabitants and is the least populated statutory city in the country. The city is an ...

. He is of Polish origin; both of his parents have Polish nationality and Czech citizenship. Walek studied law in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...

from 1993 to 1999, supported by a stipend from the Polish government. He spent a year as an

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...

student in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, Belgium, and graduated with honors in 2000 from

Central European University Central European University (CEU) is a private research university accredited in Austria, Hungary, and the United States, with campuses in Vienna and Budapest. The university is known for its highly intensive programs in the social sciences and ...

(CEU) in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Hungary, where he focused on human rights.

Professional career and activism

He worked for the Czech branch of

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

where he managed the program on police corruption. From 2003 to 2011 (with a two-year break) he worked at the Government Office as Director of the Office of the Governmental Council for

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

Community. In 2004, he created the Action Plan for the

Decade of Roma Inclusion The Decade of Roma Inclusion (''Deshbersh le Romengo Anderyaripnasko'' in Romani) was an initiative of 12 European countries to improve the socio-economic status and social inclusion of the Romani people across the region. The initiative was launch ...

, and helped create the Agency for Social Inclusion. Between 2007 and 2009 he was the program director for the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia at the US-based charity Trust for Civil Society in Central Eastern Europe. In March 2009 he was appointed the Deputy Minister for Human Rights and Minorities, and after the resignation of Minister

Michael Kocáb Michael Kocáb (born 28 July 1954) is a Czech composer, singer, and political activist. He is the leader of Pražský výběr, a popular music band suppressed by the Czechoslovak communist regime in the 1980s. At the spring 1989 Kocab with Mic ...

he took over management of the Office until February 2011. In 2011 he received the Alice Garrigue Masaryk Human Rights Award from the

US Embassy The United States has the second most diplomatic missions of any country in the world after Mainland China, including 166 of the 193 member countries of the United Nations, as well as observer state Vatican City and non-member countries Kosovo a ...

for his contributions in the field of human rights. Since January 2011 he has served as the chairman of the Prague Pride association, which organises Prague's

Pride parade A pride parade (also known as pride march, pride event, or pride festival) is an outdoor event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer culture, queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, LGBT rights by country o ...

, supports LGBT people in crisis, and campaigns for LGBT workplace equality and the legalisation of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

in the Czech Republic. Since March 2012 he has been Executive Director of the Open Society Foundation in Prague. In 2015–2016 he received a

Fulbright Scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

for research on LGBT advancement in the Czech Republic, and within the framework of the Fulbright Scholarship he was a Global Fellow at the US-based non-profit

Out & Equal Out & Equal Workplace Advocates (commonly known as "Out & Equal") is a United States lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workplace equality non-profit organization headquartered in Oakland, California. Out & Equal describes its organi ...

Workplace Advocates. He has been a board member of CEU's Human Rights Students' Initiative, the Czech chapter of

, the Open Society Foundation in Prague, Open House Prague and Alturi. In 2014 he was appointed a member of the Council for Human Rights and the Czech-Polish Forum, both government bodies. In 2013 he ran unsuccessfully for Parliament for the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

Personal life

Walek speaks English, Spanish, Czech and Polish. On 2 May 2014 he married his Dutch partner Willem Van Der Bass in

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

, Netherlands. They live in the

Vinohrady Královské Vinohrady (in English literally "Royal Vineyards" german: Königliche Weinberge) is a cadastral district in Prague. It is so named because the area was once covered in vineyards dating from the 14th century. Vinohrady lies in the muni ...

district of

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walek, Czeslaw 1975 births Living people Czech LGBT rights activists 21st-century Czech lawyers Czech people of Polish descent People from Třinec Czech gay men 21st-century Czech LGBT people Czech activists Green Party (Czech Republic) politicians Jagiellonian University alumni