[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 67 (Thursday, May 25, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E850]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




PRESIDENT ARPAD GONCZ ACCEPTS ROOSEVELT INTERNATIONAL DISABILITY AWARD 
                              FOR HUNGARY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 25, 2000

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, on Friday, May 12, at a United Nations 
ceremony the President of the Republic of Hungary, Arpad Goncz, 
received the fourth annual Franklin Delano Roosevelt International 
Disability Award on behalf of his country. This award is sponsored by 
the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute and the World Committee on 
Disability. United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, and the Vice 
Chairman of the National Organization on Disability, Christopher Reeve, 
were among those who presented the award to President Goncz.
  Mr. Speaker, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt International Disability 
Award is presented annually to a nation that makes noteworthy national 
progress toward the full and equal participation of people with 
disabilities. This important international recognition was given to 
Hungary in recognition of the great improvements that Hungary has made 
on behalf of disabled individuals. Hungary's 1998 Rights of Persons 
Living with Disability and the Equality of Opportunity law defined the 
rights of this important segment of the population and raised national 
awareness of disability issues in the country. Hungary has made 
outstanding improvements by establishing educational programs for 
children with disabilities and incentives for employers who hire those 
with disabilities. In addition to these changes the Hungarian 
government actively promotes the development of disability support 
groups.
  In particular, Mr. Speaker, I want to commend Mrs. Zsuzsa Goncz, the 
exceptionally talented wife of President Goncz, for her important role 
and her critical efforts in bringing about the positive steps that have 
been made by the government of Hungary to provide equal opportunity for 
the disabled. President and Mrs. Goncz are figures of great integrity 
and have given important moral leadership to this effort. I am honored 
to have them as my friends.
  Mr. Speaker, Secretary General Kofi Annan made the following 
statement commending Hungary for its receiving the Roosevelt Award: 
``The full and equal participation of people with disabilities is the 
main message of the United Nations World Programme of Action Concerning 
Disabled Persons. I commend the initiative of the Roosevelt Institute 
and the World Committee on Disability in establishing this award, and I 
heartily congratulate the Government of Hungary for its work to build a 
world in which each and every person can participate fully, actively 
and equally.''
  Alan Reich, Chairman of the World Committee on Disability also 
praised Hungary for its commitment to the U.N. World Programme of 
Action Concerning Disabled Persons: ``Proactive efforts such as 
Hungary's should inspire other countries throughout the world. There 
are Half a billion of us on our planet with disabilities. This crisis 
that demands action. We urge all nations to respond to the U. N.'s call 
as Hungary has.''
  Mr. Speaker, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Award, established in 1995 
by the Roosevelt Institute and the World committee on Disability, 
consists of a bronze bust of Franklin Roosevelt and a $50,000 grant for 
an outstanding disability program in the selected nation. Previous 
winners of this award are Ireland, the Republic of Korea, and Canada. 
President Roosevelt, for whom the award is named, contracted polio at 
the age of 39 and from that time on could not walk without assistance. 
Despite this serious disability he was elected President of the United 
States four times, lead the U.S. through the Great Depression and World 
War II, and was a founding father of the United Nations.
  Mr. Speaker, Ambassador William J. vanden Heuvel, the Chairman of the 
Roosevelt Institute emphasized the role of the former President of the 
United States in dealing with disabilities: ``President Roosevelt's 
role in the founding of the United Nations was one of his proudest 
accomplishments. It is wonderful to be in this institution more than 50 
years later, celebrating progress in the rights of people with 
disabilities-progress that he would fully endorse as a person who lived 
with a significant disability for much of his life.''
  Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join me in paying tribute to 
Hungary and to Zsuzsa and Arpad Goncz on the occasion of Hungary's 
receiving the fourth annual Franklin Delano Roosevelt International 
Disability Award.

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