The Palacký University Olomouc Faculty of Law is the laureate of the 2020 National Security Council Award for significant contribution to the security policy of the Czech Republic, decided at its Monday meeting. In this way, the Council thus appreciated the long-term and progressive work of the faculty in matters of security and in the field of international humanitarian and operational law.
The UP Faculty of Law succeeded in the main category. The award is granted annually by the National Security Council to teams and individuals in the main and student categories for active work in the security community and also for beneficial work in the field of security and defence policy of the Czech Republic and public education. More detailed reasons for selecting each laureate will be part of a resolution which will be published in the coming days, once it is signed by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.
The faculty was nominated by its alumnus Jan Sedláček, who works at the Legislative and Legal Department of the Czech Ministry of Defence, and Martin Faix, Vice-Dean for International Affairs and Head of the Centre for International Humanitarian and Operational Law (CIHOL) at the UP Faculty of Law. “The impulse to try to strive for the award came from our graduate Sedláček. He is very familiar with the activities of the faculty in this area, he has personally participated in many, and he stays in touch with the faculty as an alumnus,” explained Vice-Dean Faix.
The reasons for nomination acknowledge mostly the long-term activities of the Olomouc faculty in international law – offering a large variety of optional courses on security or law of armed conflict, emphasising the connection between theory and practice, organising special conferences and workshops, closely cooperating with the Czech Army, organising a unique Camp Peira training, and launching the Centre for International Humanitarian and Operational Law. “Graduates such as Sedláček are actually proof of our success. Equipped with knowledge and skills from the Faculty of Law, he purposefully sought employment and is currently working in the area of national security. For us, the award is proof that we have succeeded in fulfilling the mission of the Faculty of Law as an educational institution preparing experts in the field of security and international law, and also that we have been doing our job well in the long term,” said Faix.
Dean Václav Stehlík also appreciates receiving the award. “It reflects the long-term work of the academic workers at our faculty, especially our colleagues in the Department of International and European Law and the Department of Political and Social Sciences. Thanks are due not only to Vice-Dean Faix, who heads the team on security issues and international humanitarian law, but also to all those involved in this area. After all, the activities and continued interest of the faculty in researching this issue resulted in the opening of the Centre for International Humanitarian and Operational Law – CIHOL. I firmly believe that the reflection of their work in the form of a prestigious award will be another encouragement for our colleagues,” said the dean in regard to the success.
This year’s National Security Council Award in the main category was granted, apart from the UP Faculty of Law, to Lieutenant General Radovan Procházka and the editors of the Obrana a strategie (Defence and Strategy) magazine. In the student category, Marek Radosta was awarded with Honorary Mention for his dissertation “Advanced Non-Deadly Technology in the Fight Against Terrorism, Extremism, and Crime”.
The awards ceremony will most likely take place at the Government Office of the Czech Republic; the date is not yet known.