In recent days, several anti-Hungarian incidents have occurred in Ukraine, such as the removal of Hungarian flags and signs.Continue reading
The government has appealed to international institutions to protect the rights of Hungarians in Transcarpathia, Ukraine and the matter is urgent, as the new Ukrainian law means that from September, national minority schools will practically cease to exist in the country, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Strasbourg on Wednesday.
According to MTI, the minister underlined that the law in question, which was adopted at the end of last year, further aggravates the situation of the Hungarian national community in Transcarpathia, and therefore it is necessary to take action on the matter at international institutions, “even if the government decided to put the issue of rights deprivation in the background, so to speak, when the war broke out.”
We want to and we will defend the rights of Hungarian national communities all over the world, so naturally, the Hungarians of Transcarpathia can also count on the help of Hungary and the Hungarian government when it comes to the enforcement of their rights,”
he stressed.
Szijjártó explained that there are ninety-nine primary and secondary schools in Ukraine that currently operate as Hungarian national minority educational institutions, and the new law will make them state schools instead of minority schools from September 1, with some level of access to the Hungarian language. In addition, a regulation will come into effect that will gradually reduce the proportion of classes taught in Hungarian from the fourth grade upwards to 40 percent, and will also abolish national language matriculation examinations, admissions, and vocational training.
It is our sincere hope that the international community, the European Union, and other international organizations will force Ukraine to comply with the Venice Commission’s position, as they have done in several cases of Hungarian legislation,”
Szijjártó noted. “We are not asking for any rights that the Hungarians in Transcarpathia did not have before, but we want to restore the situation before the deprivation of rights that started in 2015,” he added.
In Strasbourg, the minister met Síofra O’Leary, the President of the European Court of Human Rights, Gianni Buquicchio, the Honorary President of the Venice Commission, and Marija Pejčinović, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
Featured photo via Facebook/Péter Szijjártó