Prague, June 19 (CTK) – The Czech Republic wants to increase its representation in international organisations, Foreign Ministry state secretary Petr Gajdusek said at a conference on the work of Czech civilian experts in the EU and Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) missions today.
The Foreign Ministry is preparing a strategy that is to help send people to them, Gajdusek said.
The Foreign Ministry special commissioner for the OSCE, Stefan Fule, said the strategy should appreciate the Czechs who had decided to take part in the work in international organisations, which was often risky.
“The Czech Republic is a member of almost 500 international organisations and it is often underrepresented in them,” Gajdusek said.
This is why the Foreign Ministry is preparing a strategy to improve the participation of Czech experts in ten selected areas. It envisages the establishment of a special group with representatives of the ministries which administer the relevant organisations, Gajdusek said, adding that the current government might approve the strategy in the summer.
Fule said along with the coordination of sending Czechs to foreign posts, there was also the absence of recognition by the state.
“I consider it vital for the report to express respect to the people who are ready to do this uneasy, complicated and dangerous work in a way,” Fule said.
Participants in the civilian missions of the EU and OSCE described their experience in them at the conference.
The missions focus on the stabilisation of the countries in which an open war conflict has just ended.
The EU has its civilian missions in Kosovo, Ukraine, Georgia and Somalia.
The OSCE representation is even bigger. The civilian missions are to help renew the principles of the rule of law and democracy in the countries in question.
Judges, police and customs officers take their help and advice to the selected countries.
Ivo Gombala, who works at the EU civilian operations command, said the missions did not pursue the objective of exporting the European ideas of the right functioning of a state.
“There should not be the message that we in the EU know everything best, outlining the steps from A to Z,” Gombala said.
“If a country itself does not have the strength and motivation to implement the changes, the chances of success are limited,” he added.
Czech experts have participated in foreign missions for 15 years.
Czechs have joined OSCE and EU missions in 19 countries, including Afghanistan and Iraq.
Between 2002 and 2017, almost 300 people were sent from the Czech Republic. They have been from an array of fields, from state attorneys, judges and police officers to security experts, project and financial manages, IT specialists and auditors.
