Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in a speech given at the UN General Assembly that migratory waves benefited no one: people embarking on journeys to find a new home risk their lives. Recipient countries, for their part, must absorb masses of migrants who are from an entirely different culture, he said. So migration leads to the emergence of parallel societies, with concomitant security implications, he added.

Szijjártó noted an event in 2015, when 400,000 illegal migrants traversed Hungary. “They breached local laws, attacked the police, had showed no regard for local culture and lifestyles,” he said, adding that the European Union’s response had been a policy failure. Instead of stopping the migration wave, it was tantamount to an invitation. The EU had intended to redistribute migrants and punish member states that rejected this forced policy. This, he added, had proved to be an “unsuccessful and damaging” approach. The minister said that over the past four years, more than 30 terrorist attacks had been carried out in Europe, all of them related to migration. More than 300 people were killed and more than a thousand injured, he added. “Whereas Brussels insists it is impossible to stop migration, Hungary has shown it is indeed possible,” he said. Together with the other member states of the Visegrad Group, Hungary has sealed the border and obstructed illegal immigration, he said. Szijjártó also welcomed Italy’s recent endeavour to shut down maritime migration, notwithstanding the criticism it has received for doing so. The minister insisted that international efforts should focus on stopping new waves of migration. International organisations must make it clear that immigration is not a fundamental human right. UN representatives and others see migration as sources of global prosperity “as if it were the best thing that could happen to humanity”. Hungary firmly rejects the approach that immigration is the best solution to demographic and labour market challenges, he added. He also dismissed the idea that human rights should be the lodestar for judging border protection measures, saying this was “a very dangerous approach”. Border protection is a matter of national security and only legal crossings are acceptable. Breaches of the law should be severely punished, he said.

Szijjártó said Hungary also dismisses the idea that multicultural societies were preferable to monocultures. The minister said the security and wellbeing of Hungarians was the government’s top priority. While strictly protecting the borders, the government has pledged to develop the education system and to help families bring children into the world. This, he said, was the right answer to demographic and labour market challenges. Hungary, he added, is also helping the Christian communities in the Middle East in this spirit.