Czechs and Slovaks have another good reason to uphold the tradition of the 10th of December. On that day in 1988, the then French President F.Mitterrand had a breakthrough encounter on his official visit to Prague  - a widely publicised breakfast with a group of Czechoslovak dissidents which entered the history. The event greatly boosted  the moral and visibility of the anti-régime protesters, including Václav Havel who would become the face of the Czechoslovak Velvet Revolution of November 1989 and later the first president of democratic Czechoslovakia.

To mark this year‘s  Human Rights Day, the Czech Embassy in Tirana partnered  with Ms. Elsa Ballauri, the Chair of the Albanian Human Rights Group and the founder/director of the Women’s Museum. Both hosted an informal and friendly event that brought together the Tirana diplomatic community  with Albanian human rights  defenders and activists as well as MPs and officials. The event allowed those who took part in it to appreciate the work of Albanian human rights defenders, to have informal exchanges or to acquaint themselves with the Women’s Museum.  Also, the Czech Ambassador introduced a selection of the exhibition „Czech Heroines“, a collection of portraits and life stories of remarkable Czech women of all times. The exhibition showcases the great Czech women who have made an internationally acknowledged contribution to the causes of women’s equality and empowerment, including contemporary athelets like Ester Ledecká, the double gold medal winner in both alpine skiing and snowboarding within one Olympic games. Many thought it opportune the exhibition was made part of the Human Rights Day event hosted at the Tirana Women’s museum.