Jan Kavan (b. 1946, London) studied journalism at the Charles University, Prague and was the leader of the 1960s student movement there.

Following the Warsaw Pact invasion in Czechoslovakia in 1968, Jan was forced to emigrate to the UK. There he studied International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Politics at the University of Reading and in the St Anthony’s College, Oxford University. He is the founder of Palach Press Agency in London in 1974, which became the main press agency for Czechoslovak opposition in Western Europe. It distributed throughout the world documents and reports issued by the human rights movement Charter 77. He also formed the Jan Palach Information and Research Trust (JPIRT) which provided Czechoslovak dissidents with books and technical equipment and supported underground university courses. Jan is the founder of the East European Cultural Foundation (EECF) and the prestigious quarterly East European Reporter, which published important documents and articles written by dissidents in Eastern and Central Europe. He returned to Prague from political exile in November 1989 and was elected in June 1990 to the Federal Assembly (Parliament).

His notable academic career included such posts as the Visiting Professor of Politics and History at the Adelphi University in New York and as the Karl Loewenstein Fellow in Politics and Jurisprudence at the Amherst College in Massachusetts. He holds several honorary degrees, including the Honorary Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Honorary Doctor of Humane letters at the Adelphi University. From 1973-1989 he was a lecturer at the Institute of Adult Education in London.

From 1996-2000 Jan was elected Senator for Central Moravia, and from 1998-2002 he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Jan was the Deputy Prime Minister for Foreign and Security Policy in the years 1999 - 2002. Jan was also the Chairman of Coordinating Committee for Intelligence Services and Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Czech Republic (1999-2002), President of the 57th session of the United Nations General Assembly (2002-2003). From June 2002-2006 he was Deputy to the Czech Parliament, where he worked as Vice-President of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Jan has also acted as the Foreign affairs adviser to the President of the Chamber of Deputies (Parliament) 2007- ) and is a Member of the Executive Council of the Czech Social Democratic Party.

Jan is also the winner of numerous international awards for achievements in the strife for democracy and human rights including Companion of Honour, International Order of Merit, etc. He is the author of hundreds of articles and several books on human rights, international relations and diplomacy.

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