Czech Government appoints Human Rights Commissioner

Ms Monika Šimůnková, a child protection lawyer, was appointed Czech Human Rights Commissioner today by the government during its regular weekly cabinet session. Šimůnková is not known among human rights experts. News server Lidovky.cz reports some even admitted they were hearing her name for the first time.

“She has never met with our office or collaborated with us, but that’s neither here nor there,” the Executive Director of the Human Rights Section at the Office of the Czech Government, Czeslaw Walek, told Lidovky.cz. The director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion, Martin Šimáček, responded similarly. “I have never heard of her, but it’s good the post will finally be filled, we have really been waiting a long time for that,” the server quotes him as saying.