The Hungarian Student, 1957 (1. évfolyam, 2-8. szám)
1957 / 5-6. szám
The Hungarian Student 5 OUR GREETINGS TO THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY T he 11TH SESSION of the UN General Assembly meets on the 10th of September in order to discuss the Report on Hungary. We hope that the activity of the nations of the world will yield results and that action will be taken to alleviate the situation of our compatriots. We hope that the General Assembly of the United Nations will: ÍN THE HEAT of the Assembly meetings last winter there were those who said that the United Nations had one standard for those who respected the Charter and another for those who did not. This was because the United Nations could secure compliance of its resolutions demanding the withdrawal of British, French and Israeli forces in Egypt and could not secure compliance with its resolutions demanding that the Russian evacuate Hungary. All this, of course, was very superficial thinking. The test of United Nations is not compliance with resolutions; but whether resolutions were passed demanding the withdrawal of troops in each circumstance. As a matter of fact, the Assembly resolutions urging the Russians to withdraw from Hungary were even more strongly worded than the resolutions on the Middle East situation. Now comes the report of the Special Committee which the United Nations appointed to investigate what happened in Hungary. This Committee was composed of a distinguished citizen each of Denmark, Australia, Ceylon, Tunisia and Uruguay. It will be noted that none of them were representatives of great powers; that two of them come from new states which are sometimes thought to be members of the so-called neutral bloc. Their report is grim reading. One would wish that he could avoid reading it. Yet it is a must. It is a must for several reasons. The nations must know the facts. For we cannot live in this world without knowing the worst of it as well as the best. Knowing what happened should add to a public opinion so overwhelming that the Soviet Union might relax its hold on Hun“exclude the representatives of the illegal Kadar Government and give a seat to the revolutionary representatives who hold that post with the confidence of the people.” “send a committee headed by the Secretary General to Hungary to inspect the prisons and concentration camps.” gary; it should be a public opinion so overwhelming that no nation would feel it could duplicate such an aggression. Furthermore, a study of the tragic Hungarian events as they occurred day by day and hour by hour should help the United Nations improve its methods in dealing with this kind of a situation. If public opinion is strong enough, the United Nations will find some means to prevent another tragedy of this kind. Several steps could now be taken. There should be recognition of the right of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to go any place he pleases at any time without having to secure the permision of any state. There should be recognized the necessity of a permanent United Nations force, part of which would be composed of men enlisting directly. There was a moment when a peaceful government was in power in Hungary. It was the government of the revolution. It expressed the people’s will. Nothing could have been more tragic than the appeal that arrived at United Nations headquarters in early morning, begging the United Nations to help, before the Soviet tanks came back. If the United Nations had had such a force and could have rushed it by plane to Budapest at the request of the Hungarian Government, the United Nations would have been on the spot first. It is doubtful then if the Russian tanks would have returned. I doubt if any aggressor would fire on a United Nations force composed of citizens of every member of the United Nations. There may be one compensation for reading such a grim report, and that is to be reminded once again of man’s heroism in the struggle for freedom, which in the long course of history, outshines the examples of human brutality such as Soviet troops exhibited in Budapest “take action for the liberation of Prime Minister Imre Nagy.” “compel the Soviet Union and the present Hungarian Government by diplomatic and economic sanctions to carry out these resolutions.” We salute every member of the United Nations General Assembly and we hope for their full support in behalf of our compatriots. The report of the Special Committee is one of the most severe indictments ever voted by the community of nations against a great power. Undoubtedly there will be an extraordinary meeting of the General Assembly in September on the eve of the regular Twelfth Assembly, which opens on September fourteenth. The reason for delaying the extraordinary meeting until the eve of the regular meeting is to have as many heads of state as possible in attendance. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has reported a resolution calling for the creation of a permanent UN police force. A similar resolution has been introduced by Congressmen Merrow and Carnahan in the House. The greatest problem in the creation of such a force is the matter of money. The next Assembly must vote some thirty million dollars for the support of the force now in being in Egypt. And such a permanent force would increase the United Nations budget by some millions a year. Such a force, of course, would not cost much more than planning the space rocket which the Army has placed on exhibition in Grand Central Station. It would not cost more money than a simple weapon in man’s arsenal of military weapons. But, so inured are we to spending money for war instead of peace, that it seems more logical to many people to spend billions for defense, while hesitating to spend a few million dollars for a permanent United Nations force. Certainly it is the duty of the AAUN and all organizations supporting the United Nations to explain constantly the need of a United Nations police force and that the small amount of money invested in it may be the best of all possible investments for peace. THE UN IS MY BEAT By CLARK M. EICHELBERGER (Article in the AAUN News, Vol. 29, No. 6.)
