Vaclav Havel Human Rights

Vaclav Havel Human Rights

As we commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Jean-Marc ILLOUZ met with the President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav HAVEL, and asked him about: - The situation in the Czech Republic: 'Things ended painlessly here at home. Some saw it as a miracle, others as a reward for their personal qualities. But in hindsight, I think it was first and foremost a victory of values. It is up to us to reflect on how values are being respected today and to ensure that they are being respected at all." - What can be passed on to the younger generations?: ' My personal experience would tell them that the more desperate their fight is and the more unequal it is, the more they will have to keep a distance from themselves. The greatest danger is to end up being a hero or a saint, at the risk of slipping into fanaticism." - The extradition procedure against the former Chilean dictator, General Augusto PINOCHET: "The evil in itself is the worst, but the real danger is the tolerance of evil. You have to be able to stand up and fight with force if you have to. The real problem with punishment is identifying the evil as such. To point the finger at those responsible is far more important than the number of years they will be able to spend in prison. What matters is their public condemnation, its value of experience for future generations.

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File : Vaclav Havel

Publication date : 10 December 1998