Jiří Dienstbier

Jiří Dienstbier is a Czech politician and a former dissident. In 1989 he was one of the founding members of the Civic Forum. Between 1989 and 1992, he served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and as Deputy Prime-Minister of the Czechoslovak federal government. In 1977, Dienstbier became one of the first signatories of “Charter 77” and in 1979 and 1985, he served as its speaker. In 1979-1982 he was imprisoned for his dissident activities. From 1998 till 2001, he was a Special Rapporteur for the UN Human Rights Commission in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. He is the Chairman of the Czech Council on Foreign Relations which he founded in 1993. Since 2005 he is on the Board of Directors and Trustees of the Reuters Founders Share Company.