On Monday. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó described the statement by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, according to which some Central and Eastern European countries, including Hungary, are violating human rights, as an insult to Hungary and the Hungarian people.
“I regard this as an insult to Hungary and the Hungarian people”, Mr. Szijjártó said at the press conference following the Prague meeting of Visegrád Group (V4) and Benelux State Foreign Ministers in reply to a question from Hungarian news agency MTI.
According to Mr. Szijjártó, “The only reason the High Commissioner for Human Rights is continuously insulting Hungary and the people of Hungary is that we have not opened our borders to the migrants”, and Hungary wants to control its state borders.
In his speech on the opening day of the 32nd regular session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, the High Commissioner mentioned Hungary and other countries in a negative context.
Amongst others, Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said: it raises concerns that some Central and Eastern European countries, “including Hungary, Poland and Macedonia” are attempting “to modify the spheres of authority of the institutions that supervise executive power”. There is “continuous pressure” on human rights activists and the representatives of non-governmental organisation and there have been reports that “journalists have been harassed on several occasions”.
Summarising the results of the Prague meeting, Luxembourgian Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn declared: The V4 and the Benelux States are not enemies. He admitted that the two blocs have differing standpoints on the migration crisis, but added: “we are all members of the same European Union and problems must be solved within the framework of EU dialogue”.
“We may not be leaving Prague with the prospect of a joint solution, be we were capable of discussing our viewpoints”, Mr. Asselborn pointed out. Luxembourg is the current president of the Benelux Union.
Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaorálek also said that the V4 and the Benelux States have different viewpoints, especially with regard to the refugee crisis, but stressed that it was important that the parties were capable of constructive dialogue.
At their meeting in Prague, the representatives of the Visegrád Group and the Benelux Union agreed that they would also like to continue their bilateral dialogue at foreign minister level during the Polish presidency of the V4, which begins in July.