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party. (Article 2 of the treaty binds the Hungarian Government to secure to all persons under its jurisdiction, without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion, the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of religious worship and of political opinion.) On 11 February, 1949, the Bulgarian press published details of the arrest and indictment of fifteen Protestant pastors, all members of the Supreme Council of the United Evangelical' Churches of Bulgaria, on charges of espionage, black-market operations, and " other anti-State activities." In the same way, and for similar reasons as in the Mindszenty case, the New Zealand Government came to the conclusion that the arrest of the pastors appeared to constitute a violation of human rights and, therefore, of the relevant articles in the Bulgarian Peace Treaty, to which the New Zealand Government is a party. The Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, made a statement dealing with the Hungarian case on 8 February, 1949, and a further statement on the Bulgarian case on 4 March, 1949. In both these statements Mr Fraser referred to violations of human rights and of the relevant articles of the peace treaties, and announced that the New Zealand Government had arranged for the delivery of notes of protest to the Governments concerned. These were delivered, to the Hungarian Government on 10 February, 1949, and to the Bulgarian Government on 28 February, 1949. The New Zealand delegation to the second part of the third regular session of the United Nations General Assembly was instructed to support the inclusion in the Assembly's agenda of the question of human rights in Hungary and Bulgaria, and to support measures which might be taken by the Assembly both to ascertain the facts concerning repressive action against religious freedom in these States and to remedy the situation.* (c) The Ex-Italian Colonies Developments in this subject are dealt with in the section of this report entitled " The Middle East" (page 33). 5. Greece The United Nations Special Committee on the Balkans (UNSCOB), set up by a resolution of the General Assembly on 21 October, 1947, has continued to observe the progress of the civil war between the
* When the second part of the third regular session commenced on 5 April, 1949, this question was included in the agenda on the proposal of the Australian delegation.
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