Juraj Rizman (born 1 November 1976) is a Slovak communication consultant and

TV presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garner ...

. He is known to the public as the partner of the Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová. He is a former

civil activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

(he worked in the sector between 1993 and 2019), especially in the field of

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

protection, the environment and the defense of civil organizations. He was a long-term member of the Government Council for Non-Governmental Non-Profit Organizations (2012–2019). He worked as the director of

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...

in Slovakia (2008–2013) and project coordinator of Via Iuris (2016–2019). In the years 2019–2021, he first worked as an advisor to the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

(2019–2020) and later to a vice-chairman of the NR SR (2020–2021).

Biography

Childhood

Rizman was born on 1 November 1976. He grew up in the locality of Tehelné pole in Bratislava's Nové Mesto. He attended a sports gymnasium, devoted himself to track cycling.

Protector

In 1993, at the age of 16, he started working for Greenpeace Slovakia as a volunteer. In 1994, he was detained on the ladder of the cooling tower at the

Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant The Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant ( sk, Atómové elektrárne Mochovce, abbr. EMO) is a nuclear power plant located between the towns of Nitra and Levice, on the site of the former village of Mochovce, Slovakia. Two up-rated 470 MW (originally 440 ...

, for which he was fined. He took part in several protest actions, for example against nuclear weapons tests, the construction of atomic power plants, in 2007 protests against logging in Tiche and Kôpra dolina. He also protested in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. In 2008, Rizman became the director of Slovak Greenpeace, which he led until 2013. He also served as Greenpeace's director of communications for Central and Eastern Europe. He left Greenpeace in 2016.

Via Iuris

Since 2016, he worked in the civic association Via Iuris, where he was in charge of coordinating communication and campaigns. In 2018, the Civil Society Defense project was launched within the organization, within which the organization monitored attacks against civil organizations and activists, provided them with communication and legal advice.

State service

In June 2019, he became an adviser to the

President of the Slovak Republic The president of the Slovak Republic ( sk, Prezident Slovenskej republiky) is the head of state of Slovakia and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The president is directly elected by the people for five years, and can be elected for ...

for the environment and civil society, where he worked until January 2020. After he and the president began to form a couple, after the parliamentary elections in 2020, he started working as an adviser to the vice-chairman of the National People's Republic of the Slovak Republic,

Juraj Šeliga Juraj Šeliga (born 16 August 1990) is a Slovak politician, activist and lawyer. He served as a Member of the National Council from 2020 until 2023, as well as Deputy Speaker of the council between 2020 and 2021. Early life Born 16 August 1990 ...

, where he remained until the end of March 2021.

Business

Since April 2021, he is a freelancer. He is currently engaged in consulting in the field of communications, strategies and campaigns. From September 2021, he hosts the show Bezpečne SK, which he prepares in cooperation with the SME daily.

Awards

He is the recipient of the Speaker of the Year award for 2008 and 2017.

Personal life

He is the partner of the President of the SR Zuzana Čaputová. Rizman has known Čaputová since 2008, when as a Greenpeace conservationist he cooperated with the association Via Iuris with the Pezinsk landfill case. They later collaborated in the communication of Čaputová's award with the Goldman Environmental Prize. In 2016, they worked together on a campaign to support the cancellation of Vladimír Mečiar's amnesties. Rizman is divorced, he has a son from his previous marriage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rizman, Juraj 1976 births Living people Slovak engineers People from Bratislava