“11 Christians are killed every day around the world because of their faith”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Thursday in Washington at the second Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom conference.

According to the politician, the persecution of religions and religious people has grown to become one of the greatest security challenges in the world today. “80 percent of people who are persecuted because of their religion are Christian, of whom 245 million had to suffer some form of persecution last year, in addition to which 1200 Christian churches were attacked or vandalised”, Mr. Szijjártó said. “Hungary feels responsibility not only for Christians living on its territory, but for all Christians who are the victims of persecution around the world”, he continued. “The majority of persecuted Christians live in the Middle East and Africa, and the Hungarian Government is providing assistance to their communities to enable them to remain in place and gain strength, thus avoiding the commencement of further waves of migration to Europe”, he explained.

“Hungary has spent 36.5-million-dollars in recent years on supporting Middle Eastern and African Christian communities who are in need and suffer discrimination”, he said, citing as an example the fact that Hungary has taken part in the renovation of 33 Christian churches in Libya and is paying for the operational expenses of three Christian hospitals in Syria. The Minister said it is regretful that international organisations are only prepared to talk about the persecution of Christians on as few occasions as possible, and European mainstream media and the political elite are portraying an image as if anti-Christianity was the last acceptable form of discrimination.

Mr. Szijjártó expressed his hope that, primarily at the instigation of the United States, as well as Hungary, Poland, Italy and Great Britain, international organisations will also begin taking action against the persecution of Christians in the spirit of religious freedom. The Hungarian politician held a separate meeting with the representatives of these countries. On the sidelines of the conference, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade also met with Montenegrin Foreign Minister Srđan Darmanović, British Special Representative for International Religious Freedom Tariq Mahmood Ahmad, the Azerbaijani minister responsible for religious affairs, and Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abdul Momen.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)