Péter Szijjártó: another Ukrainian proposal aimed at eliminating national minorities is unacceptable

The Ukrainian proposal, according to which part of the billions of euros received from the European Union to support the operation of the state would be used to take steps towards the elimination of national minorities, is unacceptable, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó stated in Geneva on Wednesday. At the meeting of the UN Human Rights Council, the head of the ministry emphasized that since millions of Hungarians live outside the borders of our country, the government is extremely sensitive to issues of minority protection, and one of the focal points of its foreign policy is ensuring the rights of foreign communities.

In his speech, he called it unacceptable that since 2014, Ukraine has been continuously and systematically reducing the rights of national minorities, several harmful laws have been adopted in this area, thus making it impossible for ethnic educational institutions, which will not be able to continue their operations in their current form from September. In addition, graduation exams, admissions, and vocational training in the national language will also cease, and many Hungarian school principals and teachers have been fired, he listed. He also touched on the recent proposal from Kyiv, according to which families who enroll their children in Ukrainian instead of nationally-language education could receive a sum of around one thousand euros, which is a serious step towards the eradication of a minority. He underlined:

while the EU supports the operation of the Ukrainian state with billions of euros, a part of these funds would be used against the minorities by the local authorities. "We are not asking for anything extra, only the restoration of previous rights"

he stated.

Péter Szijjártó emphasized that Hungary, as a neighboring state, faces the tragic consequences of the armed conflict every day, and feels the negative effects directly on its skin. For this reason, the largest humanitarian action in the history of our country continues as long as it is needed.

"Millions of families suffer, tens of thousands of people die. We believe that now the primary duty of the international community would be to save human lives"

he declared.

"We don't want more people to die, so the real question for us is how to save lives. And the answer is certainly not to deliver more weapons or impose new sanctions that will otherwise hurt us more than Russia.”

he said.

"Peace can save human lives. Hungary therefore urges an immediate ceasefire and peace negotiations"

he added.

He believed that it was a false hope, an illusion, that there would be winners in the war, since there could only be losers, and the longer it lasted, the more losers there would be and the greater the damage. The minister warned that the risk of a third world war, the danger of a nuclear war breaking out, is greater than ever before.

"It would be great if the countries that constantly make decisions and make statements with the risk of prolonging and escalating the war would understand that they are playing with fire"

- He told.

"Maybe it looks a little different from hundreds or thousands of kilometers, an ocean away, but believe me, who came from the neighborhood, representing a nation that has already lost lives, that we are in the 25th hour," he said. "I would like to call on the international community to focus on peacemaking (...) The failure of diplomacy leads to war, the success of diplomacy leads to peace," he said.

(MTI)

Opening image: Péter Szijjártó Facebook