Tech & Science

Hungary Is Shaping Up As A Regional Security Watchdog

Digital Journal Staff

Published

April 5, 2001

BUDAPEST (dpa) – Hungary is poised to take a leading role in regional security issues and become a peacekeeping partner for central Europe.

It already takes part in the Security Pact for South Eastern Europe and the campaign for a global ban of landmines. It is also spearheading proposed amendments to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC).

A member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation NATO since the spring of 1999, Hungary has every reason to hang on to the relative prosperity it has enjoyed since its transition, begun over a decade ago, to a stable and secure region.

Having been on the losing side of two world wars, and the subject of subsequent Soviet rule, Hungary has had a turbulent 20th century, suffering the devastation of its economy, territory, and much loss of life.

It is no surprise, then, that stability and security are top priorities for Hungary’s future. “Arms control is a way of increasing stability and security in global and regional levels,” said Attila Zimonyi, counsellor at the Department of Security Policy and Arms Control of Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “There is a new challenge to avert the threat of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”

In the context of a Budapest conference of NATO’s Advanced Study Institute, which brings together 80 experts from 20 nations and is set to end on Thursday, participants will propose amendments to the BWC to ensure an effective verification process to the 1975 convention on biological and toxic weapons.

“The convention was negotiated and developed during the Cold War,” said M.R. Dando, co-director of the Project on Strengthening the BWC, “and it lacks any effective mechanism of verification. If we do not deal with its weaknesses, we can foresee that we will see an increase in the proliferation of biological weapons.”

Once negotiations are completed under the auspices of the chairmanship of Hungary’s ambassador Tibor Toth, the tone is set for amendments to the convention, bringing about a verification component that will go to a final review in Geneva later this year.

Hungary has also long been an active participant in the international campaign for a global ban of anti-personnel landmines, part of an international initiative launched with the Ottawa convention of 1997.

The issue was highlighted in early February when the Canadian and Hungarian governments pooled experts in a bid to tackle the problem of destroying stockpiles of what are are believed to be millions of PFM landmines.

These specialized mines, which contain highly toxic liquids, were manufactured during the Cold War, yet large stockpiles can still be found scattered throughout the former Soviet block, including Russia, the Ukraine and Belarus. While 139 countries have signed the treaty to date, notable non-signatories of the ban include the United States, Russia, China and India.

Hungary has also been a key partner in the process to establish stability and democratic infrastructures in the beleaguered Balkan region. Through its participation in the Stability Pact for southeastern Europe (SEE), Hungary has overseen a special working group dealing with regional security issues.

Hungary’s Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi and Special Coordinator for the Stability Pact Bodo Homach, recently agreed jointly to redefine and enlarge the Szeged Process. The newly defined process, one initiated by Hungary in October of 1999, will now establish and define EuroRegions. These geographical areas will pair with the developing countries of southeastern Europe, a process that promises to continue to establish the roots of institutional democracy at the local government levels in the region.

It is the furthering of this process that it is hoped will pave the way to a secure and stable Balkan region.

Stability Pact officials, meanwhile, now look to Hungary to further expand its role to deal with the issues of asylum and migration, fighting organized crime and illegal trafficking in human beings.

“We expect that Hungary will be a strong participant in the Stability Pact’s initiative to counter organized crime,” Donald B. Kursch, Deputy Special Coordinator for the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe told Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa, “and we would also welcome Hungarian support in connection with establishing a regional disaster preparedness capability, mine removal, and reducing the levels of small arms.”

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