Martonyi János beszéde a Civilizációk Szövetsége találkozóján, New Yorkban

President Sampaio,

Let me begin by expressing my gratitude to You for inviting us to this most important ministerial meeting of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations today.

We highly appreciate and acknowledge your efforts in leading the Alliance through today’s challenging times. Under your leadership, the AoC has indeed become a successful global platform for intercultural dialogue devoted to promoting trust and understanding between diverse communities.

Hungary, a candidate for a non-permanent membership in the UN Security Council for the term 2012-2013 is fully dedicated to the success of the Alliance and shares its results-oriented goals in particular when promoting a common understanding of cultural diversity.

We support the cultural diversity approach of minority cultures and languages. Minority rights are necessary because they promote cultural diversity and protect the richness of cultural heritage. We are convinced that intercultural dialogue should respect the equal value of minority cultures and languages. Belonging to a community, based on diversity, equality and participation is a common aspiration shared by all people – this is a message emerging from the Arab Spring we experienced just recently.

Exploring further a more enforceable concept of human dignity and finding new strategies for intercultural dialogue are important issues to discuss at the forthcoming 4th AoC Global Forum in Doha, in December of this year. We mostly welcome the Doha propositions and are ready to take an active part in its endeavors.

Hungary, holding the presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first six month of this year, put special emphasis on the preservation and promotion of cultural diversity. Considering that culture has a fundamental role in developing society and strengthening social cohesion the several hundred events and programs organized during these six month promoting interaction and dialogue among cultures had an important impact on all stakeholders. We organized for instance in June an important conference on Christian-Jewish-Muslim Interfaith Dialogue, supported also by the Alliance. Thank you again, High Representative, for your backing.

As a multi-stakeholder initiative, the Alliance intends to reinforce its actions at grass-roots level in particular by enhancing a global network of non-State players, civil society organizations, voluntary bodies and foundations this is a message we read out of its Implementation Plan.

2011 marks the ten year anniversary of the UN-mandated International Year of Volunteers as well as the European Year of Volunteering. Hungary puts special emphasis on awareness-raising measures such as conferences, seminars, exchanges of experiences and publications in order to promote the volunteering dimension and a bottom-up approach of our action programs.

The social inclusion of the Roma minority when promoting the spirit of tolerance and mutual respect is an important question to deal with on both global, European and national levels. In order to identify objectives and instruments for future strategic actions we have undertaken already important steps in strengthening civil society actors working in this field.

Let me mention the inauguration of the Tom Lantos Institute in June of this year. The Budapest based Institute, established by Hungary, will carry on late Congressman Lantos’s remarkable legacy in serving the cause of human and minority rights and spreading the value of tolerance.

When concluding, High Representative, let me reiterate Hungary’s full commitment to and appreciation of the goals and results of the Alliance. We very much look forward to the Doha Forum and the outcomes of it.

I thank you.

(kormany.hu)