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Hungary’s FM: The international community should focus its efforts not on organizing or encouraging migration but on stopping it

Péter Szijjártó, minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, addressed the UN’s intergovernmental debate on its migration package in New York on Monday and highlighted Hungary’s disagreement with the document’s premise that migration is a positive and unstoppable phenomenon

Hungary’s foreign minister has said the international community should focus its efforts not on organizing or encouraging migration, but rather on stopping it.

Péter Szijjártó, minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, addressed the UN’s intergovernmental debate on its migration package in New York on Monday and highlighted Hungary’s disagreement with the document’s premise that migration is a positive and unstoppable phenomenon.

Minister Szijjártó told the debate that over the past few years, “parallel societies” have emerged in many places in Europe as a result of migration. He added that the threat of terrorism has risen, but in Hungary’s experience, migration can be stopped.

The minister argued that Hungary had faced “tremendous” migration pressure at its southern border but had managed to protect the border through great efforts and at great expense.

Minister Szijjártó said the UN and its documents should serve to protect the sovereignty, identity and security of the organization’s member states so that they can decide for themselves whom they allow into their territory. No international organization or document can pressure a country to change its social composition, he said.

Minister Szijjártó also noted that Hungary has submitted a 12-point proposal to the UN concerning its migration package. Hungary will not approve the document until its proposals are incorporated into it, he said.