Czech Republic: David Beňák is now Deputy Human Rights Minister, his priority is the law on social enterprises

David Beňák (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) became the new political deputy to Czech Human Rights and Legislation Minister Jan Chvojka (ČSSD) on Monday, 3 April. He replaces Marek Ondroušek, who has moved to the Trade Ministry to be Deputy Minister for Electronic Communications.

Beňák (age 38) has been working until now as a representative for Deputy Human Rights Minister Martina Štěpánková. Michal Kačírek, spokesperson for the Office of the Czech Government, announced the personnel change on the Government's website.

"The law on social enterprises will be a crucial priorty for me. Supporting the social economy makes sense as a component of addressing social problems. As long as people don't enjoy fair conditions for accessing housing and jobs, we will be talking about solving these problems until the end of time without actually doing it. The Government should negotiate the outline of legislative intent for this law during this month," said Beňák, who has years of experience working in the social field at local and national level.

The Government of Czech PM Sobotka pledged to support social enterprises in its coalition agreement. According to the original plan, the legislative intent for this law was supposed to have been ready two years ago and its exact wording to have been ready by the end of 2015.

There have obviously been delays. While the Human Rights Minister's team has designed a bill, agreement has not been reached on it in the cabinet.

Beňák is from a Romani family and grew up in Bílina. He studied engineering at a technical high school in Most and then graduated from the College for Law and Social Work in Most and from the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague.

From 2005-2015 he worked for the Prague 14 Municipal Department as the head of its social services department. Since 2015 he has worked for Deputy Human Rights MInister Martina Štěpánková, and he has previously been vice-chair of the Czech Government Council on Roma Community Affairs.