Hungary does not feel a need for any external authority or any other country to certify its democratic nature, the foreign ministry cited Péter Szijjártó as saying at a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva held as part of Hungary’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR).

The Hungarian people have constantly had to fight for freedom, he said, adding that this guaranteed that they would never tolerate a government violating their fundamental rights.

Szijjártó said Hungary in recent years had faced “politically-motivated” criticisms of the state of the rule of law in the country because it had a right-wing Christian Democratic government that pursues “patriotic policies” and was committed to its national identity and heritage, adding that this went against the international liberal mainstream.

The UPR has been carried out every five years since 2008 after the restructuring of the Human Rights Council. The first review of Hungary was conducted in May 2011, followed by an interim review in 2014. Hungary’s last review by the council was in 2016.

Szijjártó: Hungary Committed to EU’s Fundamental Values

The European Union is drifting increasingly farther away from the fundamental values that made it strong, but Hungary remains committed to those values, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday.

Addressing the questions he had received as part of Hungary’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) regarding the country’s family and migration policies and media freedom, Szijjártó said the Hungarian government last year had spent 6.2% of GDP on family support measures, three times the OECD average.

As regards Hungary’s contested child protection law, the minister said it was about giving parents the exclusive right to decide on the sex education of their children.

He said it was untrue that the law was against the LGBTQ community, arguing that it did not apply to adults.

Meanwhile, Szijjártó called migration one of the biggest challenges and a dangerous phenomenon which posed security, cultural and now with the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic even health risks.

Addressing criticisms of the state of media freedom in Hungary, he said that media freedom to the mainstream meant that “95% of the media is liberal”.

The Hungarian government, on the other hand, believes it means that all media outlets and journalists can freely express their opinions irrespective of their political and ideological views, he said.

Szijjártó said the reason behind the criticism levelled at Hungary was that the country had recently seen a rise in conservative media outlets.

If those criticising Hungary understood Hungarian, they would see that Hungary’s leading media outlets in every market segment are critical of the government, he added.


MTI Photo: Szilárd Koszticsák