Statement on behalf of the Republic of Hungary at the 15^th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice

Mr. Chairperson,

At the outset, let me congratulate you and other officers of the Commission upon your election. The Hungarian Delegation is convinced that the Conference will work effectively under your able guidance. We fully associate ourselves with the statement delivered by Austria on behalf of the EU on this agenda item. Please, allow me to

Before doing so, I would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Executive Director for his dedicated work at the helm of the UNODC. On behalf of my government I would like to congratulate Mr. Costa upon his reappointment for the next four years and I take this opportunity to wish him success in carrying out his mandate.

Mr. Chairperson, Distinguished Delegates,

Hungary is dedicated to prevent and combat corruption. My country is a party to the Council of Europe Criminal and Civil Law Conventions against corruption, is a founding member of GRECO, also party to the OECD Convention on the fight against bribery in international business transactions, and takes part in the work of the OECD Bribery Working Group. We took an active part in the elaboration of the Convention against Corruption of the United Nations. The Convention – which came into force in December 2005 – was signed and ratified by Hungary.

We are convinced that this Convention will give more effective responses to the pressing problems of corruption and together with the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, it will introduce a new chapter in global cooperation to counter the emerging inter-related security challenges we now face. My Delegation believes that the first session of the Conference of the Parties in December this year is of utmost importance in order to create the review mechanism. The next few years therefore will be critical in ensuring the effective implementation of this Convention. Within this context, Hungary encourages Member States to ratify and implement effectively this landmark Convention at the earliest date.

Hungary has always supported UN efforts to work out comprehensive anti-corruption standards. Our country became one of the first pilot project countries of the UN Global Programme against Corruption in 1999. In late March 2003, UNODC and Hungary organized a National Conference on Cleaner Public Life at which a broad agreement was reached on key elements of a national strategy and an anti-corruption action plan. The holding of this National Conference clearly demonstrated the commitment of Hungary to curb corruption. As a follow-up to this event an International Conference was organised in 2005 addressing the issues of improvement of the integrity of Public Life.

My country is willing to share its experience with countries of the Southeastern European region. As Mr. Costa rightly pointed out in his opening remarks, justice, security and development are closely interrelated. We are confident that disseminating best practices in preventing and combating corruption could contribute to the creation of the rule of law. Corruption and crime in a wider context – are impediments to sustainable development and undermine democracy and the rule of law. Creating democracy should be linked with addressing crime issues. In this context I would like to draw your attention to the fact that last year the government of Hungary set up an International Centre for Democratic Transition with the aim of collecting and sharing the experience of past democratic transitions.

The Hungarian government decided to support the ongoing efforts of the UNODC to conduct a research on crime and instability in the Balkans and affected countries. As for the near future, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Hungary is planning to host a seminar for the experts of Western Balkan countries on 19th May 2006 within the framework of the ‘Budapest Forum’ cooperation, which aims at exchanging experience in the fight against corruption.  In addition to experts from the countries of the Regional Partnership, the representatives of UNODC, OECD, GRECO and OLAF will also take part in the conference.

Concluding, Mr. Chair, let me reiterate my government’s commitment to address the issue of corruption and we look forward to continuing our fruitful cooperation with the UNODC in this field.

Thank you.