“Hungary is nominating itself for membership of the UN Human Rights Council”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced in his speech during the General Debate of the ongoing 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister also took the opportunity to thank the countries that have declared their backing for Hungary’s nomination for their support.
Mr. Szijjártó said that he had taken the podium “as the representative of a free country that is proud of its traditions, culture and Christianity, and which has struggled to achieve its freedom in the past”, and at the beginning of his speech referred to the fact that he was speaking during the General Debate of the UN General Assembly on the 60th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence. On the subject of 1956, Mr. Szijjártó said that at the time Hungary had not received help from outside, but that the heroic efforts of its freedom fighters had given the Hungarians the strength to survive the communist dictatorship and to finally achieve freedom in 1990.
In his speech, the Hungarian Foreign Minister explained: “The world is facing huge challenges, challenges that have led to dramatic changes in the usual world order; with the globally experienced spread of terrorist organisations, the destabilisation of some of the world’s most vital and vulnerable regions, and as a result of the fact that some 60-65 million people are migrating or have been forced to leave their homes”. “It is now not an exaggeration to state that we are in the twenty-fourth hour if we want to move these changes in a positive direction”, he said.
According to Mr. Szijjártó this goal requires the realisation of three political efforts. “The key factor in global terrorism, the Islamic State, must be destroyed, because until this happens there will not be peace and stability in Europe’s southern and south-eastern vicinity. We must also eliminate the global network of human smugglers, because they have caused the deaths of countless innocent people”, he declared. “I think we all agree that crimes against humanity cannot remain unpunished”, Mr. Szijjártó stated. “We must also change our migration policies, which encourage people to risk their lives, cross borders illegally and set out for countries that are thousands of miles away from their homes. Migration and the challenges posed by migration is an especially important topic, and for this reason we need debates that are based on compassion and rationality instead of emotionally overcharged arguments”, he said, adding “Instead of condemning and throwing stones at each other we must stand on the extremely stable foundations of international law, which states that the right to a secure life is a fundamental human right, but choosing which country you want to live in is not one of the fundamental human rights”.
Next, Mr. Szijjártó reported on Hungarian political achievements, which, he said, had successfully contributed to moving global challenges in the right direction. With relation to this he mentioned that Hungary is one of the 23 countries that is sending troops to fight against the Islamic State. 143 Hungarian men and women are serving in Iraq in defence units and training Peshmerga. He also mentioned that Hungary is urging the International Court of Justice to investigate the crimes committed by the Islamic State against Christian communities. “We regret and regard it as unacceptable that no real action based on this initiative has been made, and are equally saddened by the fact that the Security Council has not put the situation in Syria before the International Criminal Court”, he declared.
Mr. Szijjártó took the opportunity to inform the UN General Assembly that Hungary has set up a deputy state secretariat to monitor the status of Christian communities around the world and provide assistance to communities that are in danger or under threat.
Hungary’s chief diplomat also told the General Assembly that Hungary had adopted strict laws against human trafficking.
On the subject of migration, Mr. Szijjártó stressed that Hungary regards the safety of the Hungarian people as its priority. “We have protected our borders so far and will continue to not allow mass illegal border crossing in future”, he declared, adding “We must make it clear that there are migration policies all over the world that have failed. The politics that regards every migrant as a refugee and that wants to force countries to admit thousands of migrants against the wishes of its people has failed”.
“Uncontrolled and unmonitored mass migration has afforded terrorist organisations the opportunity to send its terrorists to other continents and has resulted in an increasing threat of terrorism and a reduction of public safety in Europe. It is now obvious that the people of Europe expect their politicians to place security before everything else”, he said.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister stressed that the politics of the Hungarian Government was clear: “We must take help to where it is needed and must help people to remain in the area closest to their homes so that they can return there as soon as possible once the crisis is resolved”. “The international community must assist Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraqi Kurdistan because these countries are caring for millions of refugees. If these countries and regions become unstable then people could start moving towards Europe, and Europe is incapable of coping with a challenge of this magnitude. Hungary has paid three million euros into the Madad Fund, has promised five million euros for the construction of a hospital in Syria and offered special scholarships to Syrian students”, he told the General Assembly.
Mr. Szijjártó expressed his acknowledgement to the President of the General Assembly for the fact that the new UN Secretary-General will be chosen in a novel way by interviewing prospective candidates.
(MTI)
