Martin Palouš was one of the firts signatories of Charter 77, served as its spokesperson in 1986 and participated at the creation of Civic Forum during the Velvet Revolution (November 1989). After the fall of Communism he was a member of Parlament (1990), Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs (1990-1992, 1998-2001), Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States (2001-2005) and Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations (2006-2011). Between 2011 and 2024 he worked as Senior Fellow and Director of Vaclav Havel Program for Human Rights and Democracy at Florida International University. Currently, he is engaged in these institutions.: Vaclav Havel Library (Prague), Vaclav Havel Cenbter (New York), International Platform for Human Rights in Cuba (Miami), the Remebrance Society (Washington) and the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (Prague).