Czech diplomacy in Prague and around the world traditionally organizes breakfasts with human rights defenders on this day, not only to commemorate International Human Rights Day, but also to mark the historic moment when on 9 December 1988, during his visit to communist Czechoslovakia, then French President François Mitterrand held a breakfast with Czech dissidents led by Václav Havel at the French Embassy in Prague. This was the first head of state to meet officially with Czechoslovak dissidents, and it marked a huge international support and contributed to the recognition of Václav Havel as an opposition leader and to the end of the communist regime a year later.

The breakfast with Finnish Roma rights defenders was attended by Carmen Bajram, youth work coordinator at the Finnish Roma Association, and Sofia Schwartz, media assistant at the same association. The event also included a presentation by Janette Grönfors, senior specialist for Roma policy and Secretary General of the Advisory Board on Roma Affairs in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Ambassadors and diplomats from Bulgaria, Czechia, France, Hungary, Romania, Greece, Serbia, Slovakia and Spain - countries with large Roma minorities - also shared their insights and experiences. The main topics of the presentations and lively discussions were official Finnish government documents dealing with Roma issues, inclusion, participation, equality, education, Romani language, discrimination in society and the labour market, and involvement in international activities. The conclusions of the last visit of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Michael O’Flaherty, in September this year were also discussed.