Preventing causes of migration most effective way to fight human smuggling, says foreign minister

The most effective way to fight against human smuggling is to handle the problem at its roots and eliminate the causes of migration, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in New York on Friday local time.

Addressing a conference on human smuggling, a fringe event of the ongoing UN General Assembly session, Szijjártó said that smugglers and terrorists are profiting from Europe encouraging migration. The former have made millions of dollars while the latter have hid among the migrants and sneaked into target countries.

It is Hungary’s firm conviction that help must be taken to where it is needed instead of creating problems where they did not exist before, he said.

The Hungary Helps scheme helps Christians return home or stay at home in conflict areas, he added.

The task of the international community is to ensure that everybody should be able to live securely at home. It follows that the UN and other international organisations should focus on resolving the problems that trigger migration, he said.

Szijjártó said that border protection should be approached from the point of view of security rather than human rights. Strong and strict border protection leaves less maneuvring space to criminals, including human smugglers, he said.

Szijjártó stressed the need to punish human smugglers. He noted that Hungary had introduced new legal regulations this spring to improve the effectiveness of the fight against human smuggling.

Source: MTI