2022 Speech - Hungary
| Session Number | 77 |
|---|---|
| Year | 2022 |
| Country | Hungary |
| Country Code | HUN |
| Speech |
“It has perhaps always been the case that the waging of peace is the hardest form of leadership of all. I know of no single formula for success, but over the years I have observed that some attributes of leadership are universal and are often about finding ways of encouraging people to combine their efforts, their talents, their insights, their enthusiasm and their inspiration to work together.” (A/64/PV.105, p. 3)
That is a quote from the address delivered by Her Majesty the late Queen Elizabeth II to the General Assembly in 2010. Today, on the International Day of Peace, I stand here to urge the world’s leaders to be faithful to the legacy of Queen Elizabeth II so that we can live in peace. I am particularly pleased and honoured to greet my fellow Hungarian, the President of the General Assembly, Mr. Csaba Korosi. With his presidency, after 40 years Hungary is again serving as President of the General Assembly for one year. It is a great honour for Hungary, especially in the current challenging situation. I wish you. Sir, every success in your work. I stand before the Assembly today as the President of Hungary — the first woman President of my country, a wife and the mother of three children. As a President and as a mother, I feel responsible for preserving the environment for the generations to come, in which they can enjoy security and comfort. Today, on the International Day of Peace, I stand before the General Assembly to reaffirm our commitment, under Article 1 of the Charter of the United Nations, “[t]o maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace”. Let us remind ourselves of the main reason that the United Nations was brought to life: peace. We peoples and leaders of the Western world often pretend that we have lived in an age of permanent peace and prosperity since the end of the Second World War. In many ways, that might be true — indeed, we live in a more peaceful and prosperous age than before. Let us not forget, though, the wars and armed conflicts raging in many regions of the globe, which kill innocent people, tear apart families, destroy infrastructure and economies, turn well-kept agriculture fields into wasteland and add to the destruction of the world around us. According to the Council on Foreign Relations’ Global Conflict Tracker, there are currently 27 ongoing conflicts worldwide. The tracker categorizes conflict into three groups: “worsening,” “unchanging” and “improving.” Right now, not a single one of those conflicts is described as “improving”. Globally, conflict and violence are on the rise, according to the United Nations, which has warned that peace is under greater threat around the world now than it has ever been since the Second World War. The number of wars and armed conflicts around the world has been rising steadily since then. The scholarly optimism that the decline in the number of casualties might lead to a process whereby armed conflicts become irrelevant was quickly overshadowed by recent developments in Europe and other parts of the world. I come from Hungary, from the heart of Europe. Everyone would assume that, since the Second World War, peace has been a regional characteristic. Let us not forget that, just 11 years after the end of Second World War, Soviet tanks were rolling along the streets of Budapest. We had 45 years of communist dictatorship, and it did not take long after the peaceful change of regime in 1989 for war to break out in our immediate southern neighbourhood. The killing lasted for a decade. Now, after hardly more than 20 years, war is once again raging on the European continent, in one of Hungary’s neighbouring countries. It fills us with particular concern, especially because ethnic Hungarians living across the borders have also shed their blood. Russia’s war against Ukraine is a constant threat and security risk, not only for the Ukrainian citizens living in the war zone but for all of us. The threat of escalation is a reason for worry and action. Hungary firmly condemns Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, which has destroyed peace in Europe and caused dramatic human suffering and destruction, with serious repercussions for the world order. Since the beginning of the conflict, Hungarians have stood with the victims. We have provided economic, social and humanitarian aid to Ukraine and to the Ukrainian people fleeing the war. Hungary is currently implementing the largest humanitarian operation in its recent history. Hungarian people, churches, civil organizations, local authorities and the Government have provided shelter to nearly 1 million refugees since the outbreak of the conflict. We have learned that war is evil and leads nowhere. A war has only victims, and those with the greatest losses are families: mothers and fathers who lose their children on the battlefield; wives who lose their husbands in the fighting; and children who lose their brothers and sisters in the hell of war. It is in the strongest possible terms that we call for the investigation of war crimes committed against innocent civilians. Those crimes must be documented, investigated and prosecuted by the relevant international institutions. No crimes committed can go unpunished. What do we want from the United Nations? To win the war? We should not stand for winning any war. We need to stand for the restoration of peace. If there is a will, there is a way. Hungary is a member of several federal systems, including above all the United Nations, NATO, the European Union and the Council of Europe, among others. Those organizations were created by their founding fathers to pursue peace as their fundamental goal. I could say that they were created by the desire for peace, and I am convinced that the service of peace is the foundation of their identity. Let me recall once again the words of the late Queen Elizabeth II, “The aims and values which inspired the United Nations Charter endure: to promote international peace, security and justice; to relieve and remove the blight of hunger, poverty and disease; and to protect the rights and liberties of every citizen.” (ibid., p.2) Hungary urges fellow Member States to declare peace as the major priority in the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine. It is by no means self-evident that today, at a time of war, energy and food crises, the organizations set up to avoid war and preserve peace are focusing on ideological indoctrination. That is not what is needed today. Instead, we must regain our ability to distinguish between the essential and the irrelevant; the important and the unimportant; reality and fiction. Most of us came to the Assembly from London. We attended the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II together and bowed our heads before her coffin. We bid farewell to an exceptional monarch, whose life was steeped in service to peace. We owe it to the people and to her memory to make our decisions in the same spirit. Let me conclude by quoting Winston Churchill, who said in 1953, “Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace, and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war.” Let us make a good peace. |