Hungary, 1994

Allow me to extend to Mr.

Amara Essy my delegation’s warmest congratulations

upon his election to the presidency of the General

Assembly at its forty-ninth session. He may rest assured

that the Hungarian delegation stands ready to assist him

in carrying out his responsible tasks. Sincere words of

recognition should also go to Ambassador Insanally, the

outgoing President, for the outstanding and

forward-looking manner in which he conducted the work

of the previous session of the Assembly.

As a representative of the newly elected coalition

Government of the Republic of Hungary, may I be

permitted first to assure this Assembly of nations that in

its foreign policy Hungary will continue to serve the

cause of international peace and stability, with special

regard to the Central European region. We are committed

to further developing our political and economic

transformation in order to consolidate democracy and

stabilize the market economy in Hungary.

Our foreign policy rests on three closely interrelated

main pillars, which we treat on an equal footing. First,

we are determined to promote the full integration of

Hungary into the Euro-Atlantic institutions. Secondly, we

seek genuine good-neighbourly relations with all the

countries in our region, especially with countries

bordering ours. And, thirdly, we advocate respect for

human rights, with particular emphasis on the minority

rights of the millions of Hungarians who live beyond our

borders. All in all, we intend to conduct our foreign

policy in a most pragmatic and realistic manner and will

act accordingly in our bilateral relations and in

multilateral forums as well.

10

On the threshold of the fiftieth anniversary of the

United Nations, and in the present post-cold-war era,

mankind is facing enormous challenges. The euphoria we

felt and the great expectations we entertained only

yesterday, when a new and promising world seemed to be

emerging, have now taken on a bitter quality.

As the bipolar world was falling apart and freedom

and democracy were sweeping across the globe we had to

recognize some negative aspects of those fundamental

changes, such as the outbreak of violent nationalism and

ethnic hatred fed by economic and social tensions. The

international community, and notably the United Nations,

has proved sometimes unable - and on a number of

occasions its Member States unwilling - to meet the

dramatic challenges of our times.

New and violent manifestations of intolerance, which

caught the world unprepared, aggressive wars and bloody

ethnic conflicts accompanied by crimes against humanity

and the abhorrent practice of "ethnic cleansing" are today

unanimously considered issues that ought to have been

tackled in a timely and resolute way. It is with deep regret

that we note that the United Nations, together with other

relevant international organizations, instead of preventing

the outbreak of crises in a number of areas of the world,

has, rather, been trying to react to them, either without the

necessary determination or by belated action. Indisputably,

the means available to the Organization for coming to grips

with the many international problems were stretched far

beyond existing capacities. We believe, however, that the

time has come to take a good hard look at the role the

United Nations is called upon to play and to devise new

ways and means by which it can fulfil its raison d’être in

our troubled contemporary world.

We therefore reinforce our support for the Secretary-

General’s Agenda for Peace and continue to regard it as a

forward-oriented plan of action for the years to come. In

this regard, we consider that special efforts should be made

to resolve the problems facing United Nations

peace-keeping operations, with a view to improving their

efficiency and capability.

In the event we are unable to find adequate answers to

our failures and missed opportunities, we may well be on

the verge of losing the precious benefits we have gained

and the potential prospects that opened up at the end of the

cold war for the international community, including the

United Nations, to create a qualitatively new, cooperative

world order.

As has often been stated, we live in a time of great

contrasts that are also reflected at the United Nations.

We welcome the momentous results and encouraging

progress in South Africa just outlined by His Excellency

President Nelson Mandela, as well as those in the Middle

East. The assumption of office by the first democratically

elected President and Government of South Africa and its

normalization of relations with its neighbours, the signing

of the Declaration of Principles by Israel and the Palestine

Liberation Organization (PLO) and the beginning of its

implementation, the breakthrough in relations between

Jordan and Israel and the hopeful evolution of talks

between Syria and Israel, are all truly historic

achievements and bode well for the future.

The forthcoming 1995 Conference of the Parties to

the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

will be an event of cardinal importance which can further

enhance the aforesaid positive tendencies. Hungary is

keenly interested in ensuring the indefinite and

unconditional extension of the Treaty and is ready to

contribute to achieving this important goal. Recent events

have once again reinforced our conviction with regard to

the critical significance of such an act.

If the United Nations wants to live up to the

promising processes, it must, first of all, adjust itself to

the new realities. It would, therefore, do well to get rid

of outdated, anachronistic resolutions which have nothing

more to do with present-day developments.

It must, however, be admitted that attempts to tackle

crises in the former Yugoslavia, in Somalia, in Rwanda

and elsewhere have not yielded conclusive evidence of

the ability of the United Nations to find the right answers

to major hotbeds of tension.

Because of its geographical proximity, Hungary has

followed with particularly grave concern the devastation

and suffering across its southern borders, first and

foremost in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Croatia. We

have supported to the best of our abilities the efforts of

the international community aimed at finding a just

solution to that human drama. The basis for the solution

of this unprecedented crisis in the heart of Europe exists.

The principles of the United Nations Charter and those

adopted by the International Conference on Yugoslavia

are there. They include respect for the sovereignty and

territorial integrity of countries, the inadmissibility of

acquisition of territory by force, the elimination of the

consequences of "ethnic cleansing", the return of refugees

and displaced persons and the protection of human rights,

11

including the rights of minorities. These principles should

never be ignored if we are to reach a just and lasting

settlement in Bosnia, Croatia and elsewhere.

Hungary has a vital stake in the restoration of peace

and international legality in the former Yugoslavia. The

volatile situation of the sizeable Hungarian ethnic

community in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia

and Montenegro), the interruption of traditionally close

economic ties with our southern neighbours, the serious

losses we have suffered as a consequence of the sanctions

regime imposed by the Security Council on the Federal

Republic of Yugoslavia, all inspire us towards an active

involvement in the search for a durable and equitable

settlement in those tortured lands. In achieving that goal

we expect the international community to uphold the

principles of the Charter of the United Nations and to

enforce the relevant resolutions of the Security Council.

We also expect that appropriate ways will be found in the

course of post-conflict peace-building there to alleviate the

burden of losses incurred as a result of the sanctions regime

by the countries most directly affected, such as Hungary.

Hungary is following with keen interest the

encouraging process of the revitalization of the United

Nations. In this respect, I wish to reaffirm that we attach

particular importance to the question of the reform of the

Security Council with a view to ensuring its transparency,

representative character and effective functioning, in order

to better reflect the realities of our contemporary world. In

this context we fully concur with others in supporting

permanent membership in the Security Council for

Germany and Japan.

Hungary welcomes the ever-growing recognition that

in maintaining international peace and security regional

organizations should be given a more decisive role. In our

view, the time has come to work out the necessary

arrangements whereby regional organizations can effectively

contribute to conflict resolution, namely, preventive

diplomacy, peace-keeping, peacemaking and post-conflict

peace-building. We endorse the proposition that by

involving the regional organizations under the umbrella of

the United Nations, and in particular of the Security

Council, in the safeguarding or restoration of international

peace and security, our world can indeed be made a much

safer place. We, for our part, are prepared to share in

efforts at securing wider participatory action.

This autumn Hungary is honoured to act as host in

Budapest of the next Review Conference and summit

meeting of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in

Europe (CSCE). We expect the Conference and the

summit meeting not only to contribute to the better

functioning of this important regional arrangement but

also to serve as a useful vehicle in the efforts towards a

democratic and integrated Europe where rationalism may

prevail over nationalism. Furthermore, we are convinced

that success within the CSCE is not only beneficial to the

peoples living in the CSCE region but that it can also

underpin efforts at conflict prevention and crisis

resolution in other parts of the world. In this context we

believe that the realization of the Dutch-German proposal

to establish a genuine and practical division of

responsibilities between the CSCE and the United Nations

in the settlement of conflicts within the CSCE region,

while upholding the principles and provisions embodied

in the relevant chapters of the United Nations Charter,

could well be a major step forward.

Following the Budapest Summit, when Hungary is

to take over for a year the duties of the

chairmanship-in-office of the Conference on Security and

Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), I personally intend to pay

particular attention to the consolidation of mutually

advantageous cooperation between the CSCE and the

United Nations which is so promisingly unfolding.

Promotion and protection of human rights and

fundamental freedoms are a high priority of Hungary’s

foreign policy. In this connection, I would like to recall

that in the Vienna Declaration of the World Conference

on Human Rights it was solemnly stated that the

promotion and protection of all human rights is a

legitimate concern of the international community.

Consequently, we find it indispensable that, in this spirit,

the United Nations should act in the defence of human

rights, irrespective of where violations of those rights

occur.

In our world of interdependence and growing

interaction, Hungary calls for the development by the

United Nations of an integrated response-capacity to

combat the repeated waves of human rights violations.

We view with serious concern the alarming increases in

the reported cases of gross violations of human rights, as

well as the frequent occurrence of such violations in

situations of internal armed conflicts or ethnic strife.

These developments have serious repercussions affecting

peace, security and stability in the given region and

beyond. In this regard, we should be mindful of the

requirements laid down in the Vienna Declaration for all

Governments to promote and protect human rights in their

own countries, regardless of their political, economic and

12

cultural structures. On the one hand, an open and active

dialogue, simultaneously constructive and critical, needs to

be established and sustained in order to promote the

protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. On

the other hand, a stronger commitment to economic and

social development in various areas of the world would

considerably facilitate the observance of these universal

values.

By the same token, we believe that the United Nations

has not yet exhausted the means available for the

international protection of human rights. We urge the

international community to seek new and innovative means

and methods to safeguard the rights and freedoms of our

fellow human beings, wherever they may live. We wish to

see the United Nations embark in a timely manner - within

the framework of preventive diplomacy - upon the road of

international protection of human rights and fundamental

freedoms. Rather than responding only to reported human

rights violations, the United Nations should build effective

preventive mechanisms into its activities whenever the need

arises. The notion of preventive protection should also

include adequate international monitoring.

Following decisions of the competent organs of the

United Nations, such as the Security Council or the

Commission on Human Rights, civilian human rights

monitors could be deployed if in any part of the world the

human rights situation so warranted. Hungary, for its part,

is prepared to participate with monitors in joint actions of

the international community in this field.

In these endeavours, we also count on the effective

participation of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The High Commissioner has had our full support ever since

he assumed his office, and we pledge our cooperation in the

carrying out of all aspects of his mandate. We would like

to reiterate that adequate financing of the human rights

activities of the United Nations should be ensured through

the regular budget.

I cannot conclude without mentioning the issue of

sustainable development, with its many aspects covering

industrial and agricultural development, trade, human

resources, regional cooperation, protection of the

environment, and so forth. Clearly, what is at stake here is

our ability to tackle these global issues without delay. The

growing sensitivity with regard to these questions cannot

but be welcome. We consider the work of the United

Nations Conference on Population and Development, held

recently in Cairo, to be an important step in that direction

at a time when contrasts between requirements of human

development and limited resources are becoming more

and more evident.

In conclusion, I would like to reaffirm that Hungary

continues to be a strong supporter of multilateralism.

Nations are looking to this Organization for protection

and assistance. We must not let them down in these

critical times. In spite of failures, we should keep faith

with the United Nations and meet the challenges which,

in the final analysis, will determine mankind’s destiny in

the new millennium.