A few words about Vaclav Havel first.
In 1989, he participated in the “Velvet Revolution” and became a leader. First president of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, he declared himself opposed to the partition of his country. However, he accepted the presidency of the Czech Republic in January 1993.
In 1997, he published Il est permits d’espérer (it is permissible to hope), in which he delivers, among other things, this reflection on human rights and the “higher order” on which man depends, and which makes him morally responsible.
The human mind has understood since the earliest times, long before the expression “human rights” was invented that a higher order of life, of which it is an integral part, imposes a particular commitment.
This quotation can be related to the debate between natural law and positive law.
