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The new Ukrainian proposal that points towards the eradication of national minorities is frustrating, outrageous, and scandalous, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Wednesday in Geneva at the UN Human Rights Council.
In his speech, he said it was unacceptable that Ukraine has been systematically and continuously dismantling the rights of national minorities since 2014, and that several harmful laws have been adopted in this area, making it impossible for national minority educational institutions to continue operating in their current form from September.
In addition, graduation examinations, admissions, and vocational training in the national minorities’ languages will be abolished, and a number of Hungarian school directors and teachers have been fired, he said.
He also referred to a recent bill in Kiev
that would give families who enroll their children in Ukrainian-language education instead of ethnic minority education a sum of around 1,000 euros, which is “a serious step towards the elimination of a minority.”
Szijjártó pointed out that in order to finance this unacceptable plan, Ukraine wants to use the billions of euros it receives from the European Union. He expressed the hope that the Kiev Parliament would not adopt the proposal.
“We are not asking for anything extra, just the restoration of previous rights,” he added.
Featured photo via Facebook/Szijjártó Péter