Hungary Is Bad on the Moral Issues at the UN

The government of Hungary is well into a decade-long charm offensive directed at American conservatives and social conservatives. The purpose is to convince us to come alongside Hungary as political allies.

To a large extent, this has worked. Hungarian President Katalin Novák just did a tour of conservative Catholic colleges and universities where she was very well received. Over the years, conservative groups—like my own group, C-Fam—have helped organize conferences in Washington, D.C., and Budapest that have featured high-ranking Hungarian officials, highlighting all the good things Hungary has done in their domestic policy.

Hungary is keen for us to know that they are pro-natal, offering boatloads of financial assistance and tax breaks for having more and more children. In recent months, Hungary made it illegal for the Homintern to propagandize Hungarian children.

Hungary has stood up to the European Union on a whole host of issues, including the unchecked invasion of migrants from Syria and elsewhere. Hungary has spoken up on behalf of Christian civilization over against the paganization of Europe.

This has been so successful that some Americans have expatted themselves, including former University of Dallas professor Gladden Pappin, who now runs a foreign policy institute connected to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s office. Popular writer Rod Dreher has moved lock, stock, and barrel to Budapest and, besides all of his voluminous writing, now works for the Danube Institute run by the great John O’Sullivan and his wife, Melissa.

But, the question becomes, if all this is true, and it is, then why does Hungary take an aggressive position in favor of the sexual revolution at the U.N., including support of all of its nastiest aspects?

When I tell people this, they are shocked. It does not make sense. Hungary has spent time and treasure to convince American conservatives that they are one of us. But, at the U.N., they are not one of us. In fact, Hungary is no different at the U.N. than Germany, the U.K., and France. They are no different than Norway and Iceland.

Let me give you some examples.

In the Summer of 2022, the U.N. General Assembly held a historic debate about abortion and LGBTQ+. It was within the context of a resolution on justice for victims of sexual violence. This may seem noncontroversial. After all, who does not want justice for victims of sexual violence? But that was not the purpose of the resolution, which was really to name abortion and LGBTQ+ as “human rights” for the very first time in a U.N. resolution. Hungary not only supported this effort but Hungary joined EU statements berating governments from Africa that opposed abortion/LGBTQ+ as a human right.

Last fall, during the annual General Assembly debate, over two dozen resolutions included abortion language, under the guise of “sexual and reproductive rights.” Understand that “sexual rights” includes the whole nasty panoply of the sexual revolution. “Reproductive rights” means abortion. Hungary supported the EU position in every instance. It is common for governments to accept a resolution but enter reservations or explanations of position that distance themselves from radical interpretations of these ideas. Hungary uttered not a peep.

During the same meeting of the General Assembly, “sexual orientation and gender identity” was introduced in a resolution on, of all things, voting. The sexual Left at the U.N. uses every opportunity to advance its agenda. Understand that this phrase includes all the craziness we have come to see in the “gender” debate in the United States and around the world. Hungary stood in lockstep with the EU in support of this language. And Hungary took no steps to explain its position.

At a recently concluded U.N. Commission, the EU, with the support of Hungary, opposed efforts to agree that parents have the “primary responsibility” for the upbringing of their children. With the help of Hungary, the EU also insisted that wherever “family” is mentioned, “various forms of the family” must be added. This is code for unnatural understandings of family.

It is hard for those of us at the U.N. to understand how Hungary’s position on the moral issues at the U.N. comport with the image Hungary promotes to the conservative world. In fact, they don’t. There is a disconnect. It is hard for those of us at the U.N. to understand how Hungary’s position on the moral issues at the U.N. comport with the image Hungary promotes to the conservative world.Tweet This

It should be understood that a few dozen brave African countries have been willing to stand up to the European Union and Hungary. These poor countries need all the financial assistance they can get, but they are ready to risk it to stand up for the moral issues of the unborn and family.

Even if Hungary is actually left wing on the moral issues, at least they can stand up for national sovereignty. We find common cause with governments that disagree with us on abortion, for instance, just as long as they believe the international order should not impose the abortion issue. Hungary could oppose these efforts on the issue of national sovereignty alone. But they don’t.

Pro-life groups have pressed this cause with the Hungarian delegation to the United Nations, President Katalin Novák’s office, and Viktor Orbán’s staff, all to no avail.

Hungary opposes EU initiatives on many domestic issues, principally immigration. Hungary is willing to stand up to the EU and withstand all the threats and criticism on this and other issues. Hungary needs to break with the EU on the moral issues at the U.N. When they do, conservatives will understand they are, at long last, truly one of us. Until then, they are no different than the left-wing powers in Berlin, Paris, and London.

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]