“UN has failed its mission”: Hungarian FM Szijjártó slams global body over Ukraine war and peace efforts
The United Nations “is clearly preoccupied with its own problems and inefficiency”, and so far appears “incapable of supporting peace efforts, even though this is supposed to be its main function”, Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, said on Thursday.
Hungary has been arguing in favour of a ceasefire and peace talks in Ukraine for three and a half years now, Szijjártó said after talks with Abdulla Shahid, the 76th president of the United Nations General Assembly, in Budapest.
“For three and a half years, we’ve been fiercely criticised for this, even though if this war had been ended at the beginning, millions could have been saved, Ukraine would not have been left in ruins, and the European economy wouldn’t be suffering,” the minister said.
“The pro-war liberal mainstream undermined every peace initiative and hindered all peace efforts,” he said. “If the politicians of the liberal mainstream hadn’t hampered the peace efforts, peace would be within reach today.”
Szijjártó said the UN’s job was to provide the warring sides a platform for settling their conflicts at the negotiating table.
“Eighty years after the establishment of the UN, we must unfortunately concede that the United Nations is incapable of fulfilling this function, even though there’s a threat of a world war looming over international politics right now,” he said. Szijjártó said the UN needed to take action in an effort to preserve world peace, but the organisation “is clearly preoccupied with its own problems and inefficiency, and so far appears incapable of supporting the peace efforts”.
“Those of us in the pro-peace camp, and, in fact, the pro-peace global majority, now have to make even greater efforts in the interest of peace,” the minister said. He said the Hungarian government would continue to push for peace in Ukraine because this was the only way to save lives and put an end to forced conscription.
“A Hungarian citizen has also fallen victim to this forced conscription,” he said. “These kind of scenes are unacceptable in the heart of Europe in the 21st century, and the international community must take action against it.” Szijjártó said he and Shahid were in agreement that wars like the one in Ukraine could only be resolved at the negotiating table and not on the battlefield.
Read more news about the war in Ukraine on Daily News Hungary.
Read also:
- Austria considers bombshell move: will it abandon neutrality and join NATO?
- Polish PM Tusk: Good chance that Ukraine war could be suspended soon