“The international community, including the European Union and the United Nations, should not be concerning itself with organising and encouraging migration, but with the resettlement of the millions of people who have been forced to leave their homes”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó stressed at a debate on the international investigative mechanism for Syria held at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.

In his speech, Mr. Szijjártó pointed out that the situation in Europe’s southern and south-eastern vicinity has become strongly destabilised in recent years, as a result of which millions of people have fled their homes, many of them to other countries. “The migration situation has been further exacerbated by Brussels’ policy of encouraging migration. Thanks to the military assistance provided by the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, the Islamic State terrorist organisation has now lost 98 percent of the territories it previously occupied in 2014, meaning it is time to begin encouraging the return home of the migrants, and to provide them with assistance in doing so, instead of supporting and organising emigration”, the Hungarian Foreign Minister emphasised.

Mr. Szijjártó explained that four conditions – legal, infrastructure, security and accountability – are necessary for the success of their return. “The latter is particularly important with relation to preventing the repeating of crimes; crimes against humanity and acts that have forced millions from their homes cannot remain unpunished, otherwise the whole wave of migration could begin anew. Hungary is funding the UN accountability mechanism with 15 million forints-a-year, including via the collection of criminal evidence”, the Minister said. Following his speech, Mr. Szijjártó met with UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Andrew Gilmour.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)