Hungary

Allow me to express my warmest congratulations to Ambassador Insanally, on his election as President of the General Assembly at its forty- eighth session. I should also like to welcome into our midst Andorra, the Czech Republic, Eritrea, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Monaco and Slovakia, whose recent admissions have brought the United Nations even closer to becoming truly universal. During the last year, the international community continued to face extremely grave challenges. This period has seen, along with certain positive achievements, more alarming failures and disappointments. The questions to which we have to respond take us back once again to the basic problem of multilateralism, that is to say, to defining in our complex world the values that can ensure a cohesion which is necessary for our common will to be translated into joint action. The fall of communist dictatorships in Central and Eastern Europe and the end of super-Power confrontation have brought about an international political climate in which new approaches can be found in the maintenance of international peace and security and the resolution of global problems. They are based on greater opportunities for closer interaction and the participation of each and every United Nations Member State in managing and influencing the course of events. These opportunities and the ability of the international community to turn them into tangible results are manifest in the conflict-resolution processes in Central America and South-East Asia, in the resolute reversal of brutal aggression in the Gulf, in the fundamental transformation we are witnessing in South Africa and in the historic agreement in the Middle East. These evolutions clearly demonstrate that with political courage, far-sightedness and readiness for compromise, even the most intractable problems can be untangled and resolved. They show us an example that ought to be emulated in all regions of the world. The convulsions of the new era of world history are strongly felt in a country like Hungary which, as it has so often in its history, finds itself again close to conflict-ridden areas. Despite the difficulties that inevitably accompany the historic transition processes of the region, the Hungarian Government, ever since it took office in 1990, has been striving consistently and successfully to maintain the country’s internal stability and to ensure that it remains a mainstay of stability in our troubled region. Stability should be omnipresent and universal, and we have to find the appropriate ways and means to achieve it. As regards the old continent, Hungary wants to see democracy, prosperity, security and the institutions, such as the Council of Europe, the European Community and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that lie at its foundation, gradually expand eastward. For some time now the world has been living in the shadow of events that ominously remind us of the darkest periods in the history of mankind. The conflict in the former Yugoslavia has been raging for more than two years. But most regrettably, not even the worst cases of disregard for the norms of international law and the principles enshrined in the Charter, not even the gravest crimes against humanity and the most brutal mass violations of fundamental human and minority rights, have proven to be sufficient to persuade the world, when there was still time, to counter aggression promptly and effectively, to prevent the acquisition of territory by use of force and to take a firm stand against the abhorrent policy of "ethnic cleansing". The end result of such policies of passivity, appeasement and complacency, of the striking lack of an ability to learn from past experiences and of the absence of the necessary political will to act, is well documented right here, in this building, in a shocking and soul-stirring photo exhibition about the horrors of war in the former Yugoslavia. It brings home a painful awareness of the practical consequences of unbridled extreme nationalism and the compelling message not to relax and relent in our national, regional and international efforts to uphold in an uncompromising manner the purposes and principles of the Charter. Forty-eighth session - 30 September l993 19 The renewal of Central and Eastern Europe and the economic and social processes there have thrown to the surface tendencies of political and ethnic fundamentalism which, having been elevated to the level of official State policy, have unleashed or could lead to conflicts threatening the security of the whole of Europe. In our interdependent world, every nation on Earth, irrespective of where it is situated, should realize the danger of this venomous contagion if it were allowed to spread across our planet. The people and the Government of Hungary continue to follow the developments of the crisis in the former Yugoslavia with utmost concern. As a country immediately adjacent to the crisis area, Hungary has sought to avoid being dragged into this conflict, while continuing at the same time to voice its principled position on the crisis and abiding by the relevant decisions of the international community. One has to reckon with the fact that this crisis is not limited to the war-torn areas of Bosnia and Croatia. It festers in Serbia proper, where there is growing pressure on the different ethnic communities inhabiting the country, including the Hungarian community in Vojvodina. In this formerly autonomous province, the successive waves of intimidation and discrimination have already significantly reduced both the size and the proportion of the Hungarian minority. There continues to be a constant threat of a further massive influx of refugees into Hungary, I am afraid. In the conditions prevailing in Serbia and Montenegro, just as in other parts of the former Yugoslavia, it is of utmost importance to seek adequate international protection for these ethnic communities and national minorities. Indeed, one of the key issues in settling the crisis is to ensure their rights without any discrimination, whether they have majority or minority status, with the same norms and standards applying to each and every one of them. Because of its geographical situation, Hungary finds itself confronted with special economic problems arising from the implementation of sanctions imposed by the Security Council against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro). Our economic and financial losses directly attributable to the effects of implementing the sanctions are constantly growing, and have now reached $1 billion. We highly appreciate the steps taken so far by the Security Council vis-à-vis those countries that have suffered economic losses and have made use of their right to consult the Security Council under Article 50 of the Charter. We trust that the international organizations and institutions concerned will find early solutions to help alleviate those pressing problems. It is clear from the experience gained in connection with the various sanctions regimes in place that attention from the international community commensurate with the scale of the problems caused to third countries is required in order to examine how best we can establish an effective mechanism for the implementation of Article 50. Without such a mechanism, the burden placed on an ever-growing number of countries fulfilling their international obligations will remain disproportionately and unjustly heavy. In this connection, it is totally unacceptable to take retaliatory measures in response to actions by any State in fulfilment of its obligations under the Charter. Therefore, illegal measures such as attempts to block free and safe navigation on the Danube river, which is an international waterway vital for many countries of Europe, warrant international action, and the States concerned rightly expect the international organizations to provide effective assistance in this matter. In the light of recent bitter experiences, we have become more acutely aware that the world cannot be made a safer place unless there are international organizations able and willing to take resolute and timely action. Multilateral diplomacy must be at its best if it is to offer remedies where other possibilities for preventing or settling conflicts have been exhausted. We consider it especially important that the various tools of preventive diplomacy and crisis management should be constantly at the disposal of the international community. Hungary is highly interested in the ongoing work aimed at a comprehensive review and enhancement of the United Nations peace-keeping, peacemaking and peace- building activities. Many substantive proposals have been made and useful observations put forward in this regard. We hope that they will assist in our endeavours to carry out genuine and purpose-oriented reform measures in the world Organization. We expect that the present session of the General Assembly will move us ahead in the debate on how to bring certain provisions of the Charter into line with the changing realities of our world. Conditions seem ripe today for giving most serious consideration to questions relating to the review of the Charter. The fundamental aim of such a review is to make the United Nations function better. At the same time, it should in no way undermine the effectiveness of the decision-making processes at the United Nations. In this context, Hungary fully understands the pressing financial situation of the world Organization and, as its contribution to redressing this state of affairs, has, as of this year, eliminated all its arrears to the regular budget. 20 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session In our view, there are, inter alia, two particular areas where a review of the provisions of the Charter is needed. First, there is a long-overdue need for a review of those Charter provisions that imply a distinction between United Nations Member States on the basis of their status of signatory or enemy State. On the eve of the fiftieth anniversary of the birth of the United Nations, the elimination of this obsolete distinction would be more than a gesture towards a number of countries that have, over the years, fully proved their commitment to the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter. Secondly, the role played in today’s world politics by some States and their contribution to the realization of the purposes and principles of the Charter justify their more intimate involvement in the maintenance of international peace and security. We are aware that the issue of the enlargement of the permanent membership of the Security Council will be the subject of further discussions. However, we believe that two countries - Germany and Japan - already qualify to play the enhanced role that would stem from permanent membership in the Security Council. My Government continues to believe that the United Nations provides a most fitting framework for translating into reality our global responsibility for the international protection of human rights. It is our deep conviction that the Security Council should pay appropriate attention, and act resolutely and promptly, as part of its preventive actions, to mass infringements of human and minority rights, since they constitute threats to regional and international peace and security. We should pursue an effective integration of human rights elements into the workings of the whole United Nations system. Hungary supports the early establishment of a post of high commissioner for human rights. An appropriate mandate from this session of the General Assembly could ensure, through this new institution, an adequate presence for human rights elements, particularly in the various fields of early warning, conflict management, peace-keeping and peace-making, electoral assistance and post-conflict peace-building. The high commissioner could make the human rights activities of the United Nations more transparent to world public opinion. We intend to lend our full support to a mandate for the high commissioner that would also cover the protection and promotion of minority rights. In our view, the high commissioner could also play a major role in raising public awareness of the positive models of multinational coexistence and minority protection systems that are functioning well in various democratic countries of the world. Here I can refer to the previous speaker, whose country, I believe, is a good example of this. We believe that this task is of major importance and has never been higher on the agenda than it is today. The application or adaptation of these successful solutions to the specific circumstances prevailing in other parts of the world could greatly contribute to a more satisfactory human rights situation in our world at the end of this turbulent century. I have obviously not exhausted all the problems besetting the world. Our Governments today have an enormous responsibility to find answers to the new challenges. If we fail to act now, we risk losing all the achievements won with the ending of the cold war.