Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a phone interview given to MTI on Monday from Geneva that Hungary has asked the International Criminal Court to investigate the brutal actions committed against the Christian community by the Islamic State (ISIS) and to prosecute the perpetrators with rigour.

Péter Szijjártó also talked about this, among other issues, in his address at a high-level event of the United Nations Human Rights Council. He said that Hungary urges the international community to enhance actions to ensure that the fight against the Islamic State will be successful. The Hungarian government has also considered this and has asked the parliamentary parties to consider increasing Hungary’s contribution to the success of the international coalition against the Islamic State.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade consulted with the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees on Monday. He explained that the international community has to fulfil three tasks to improve the situation of refugees: support the countries receiving the most refugees, guarantee the security of political refugees as well as draw a clear distinction between political and economic refugees. Péter Szijjártó emphasised that it is of primary importance to support the countries located in regions of fragile stability that receive a great number of refugees to ensure that these countries do not lose their stability.

The Hungarian government highly appreciates the efforts made by Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon to receive refugees. So far Hungary has granted EUR 510,000 for improving the refugee situation in Syria and EUR 70,000 to support Christians in the Middle East, he said. The leader of Hungarian diplomacy reminded that on the occasion of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s latest Budapest visit the government donated water treatment equipment to a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey. He also emphasised that if refugees persecuted for reasons of religion, political opinions or race arrive in Hungary, the country can provide shelter for them.

The leader of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said that in the case of economic refugees, Hungary’s standpoint is that support should be given to the economic development of their country of origin: if an appropriate standard of living and the enforcement of their rights are granted, emigration can clearly be prevented. Answering MTI’s question, Péter Szijjártó said that bilateral consultations between Hungary and Kosovo have been going on for a long time; however, as concerns development, it is primarily the United Nations and the European Union that have a major role.

The Minister reminded that he negotiated with the European Commissioner for Development a few weeks ago, and declared that Hungary backs the EU’s development programmes as far as possible to ensure that the level of economic development of countries located either in the Western Balkans, Africa or the Middle East can reach a level where people do not feel the urge to emigrate.

Péter Szijjártó also added that Hungary will apply for a United Nations Human Rights Council membership in the 2017-19 period. It was between 2010 and 2012 that the country was a member of this body of the international organisation the last time and it intends to continue the work started back then.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)