Czeslaw Walek

Mgr. Czeslaw Walek (born 31 February 1975) is a Czech lawyer with Polish origin, recipient of Fulbright Scholarship, former Deputy Minister of Human Rights and Minorities, significant LGBT activist and one of the founders of Prague Pride.

Czeslaw Walek has partially Polish origin, both parents have Polish nationality and Czech citizenship. He grew up in Třinec. Speaks English, Spanish, Czech and Polish. On May 2, 2014 he married his Dutch partner Willem in Delft. They live in Prague-Vinohrady.

Studied law in Krakow at Jagiellonian University, he spent a year as Erasmus student in Antwerp Belgium and graduated with honors from Central European University in Budapest Hungary where he focused on human rights.

He worked for the Czech branch of Transparency International where he managed program on police corruption. Between 2007 - 2009 he held the position of Program Director for the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia at the US based charity - Trust for Civil Society in Central Eastern Europe. From March 2012 he was Executive Director of the Open Society,p.b.o.. Within framework of Fulbright Scholarship he is currently managing a Global Initiative Program of San Francisco-based non-profit Out & Equal Workplace Advocates.

In years 2003-2011 with a two-year break worked at the Government Office as a Director of the Office of the Governmental Council for Roma Community. In 2004, he created the Action Plan for the Decade of Roma Inclusion. He helped create Agency for Social Inclusion.

In March 2009 he was appointed the Deputy Minister for Human Rights and Minorities; after the resignation of Minister Michael Kocáb took effective management of the Office till February 2011.

In 2011 he received The US Embassy Human Rights Award of Alice Garrigue Masaryk for long-term activity in the field of human rights.

Since 2011 he serves as a chairman of Prague Pride association that organizes the biggest pride festival in Eastern Europe, runs peer mentoring portal for LGBT people in crises www.sbarvouven.cz, works with business on LGBT workplace equality and is fuel behind marriage equality campaign in the Czech Republic.

In 2013 he unsuccessfully ran for the Parliament for the Green Party.

He was or is board member of: CEU Human Rights Students' Initiative, Transparency International - Czech Republic, the Open Society Fund Prague, Open House Prague and Alturi. In 2014 he was appointed a member of the Czech Governmental bodies - the Council for Human Rights and the Czech - Polish Forum.