“The world must mobilise a much higher level of resources to protect Christian communities in the upcoming period”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó stressed in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Friday in reaction to the fact that twenty-six people, including children, had lost their lives and a further twenty-five were injured in an attack against Coptic Christians in Egypt’s Minya province.

Mr. Szijjártó said that in this respect Hungary has already made a major contribution in view of the fact that it has provided significant financial aid to Christian communities in the Middle East and North Africa, in addition to which it has established a separate state secretariat specifically to monitor the persecution of Christians in the region.

The Minister said the latest incident was a terrible attack and “unfortunately not the first” in the region. “The Government condemns this act of terrorism in the strongest possible terms, expresses its condolences to the families of the victims and wishes the injured a speedy recovery”, he stressed.

“What makes the attack even more terrible is that fact that many of the victims were children. Few things are more barbaric than attacks against children”, the Minister said.

Mr. Szijjártó emphasised that the world must pay greater attention to Christian communities in the Middle Eastern and North African region. “It is no accident” that the government has called for the establishment of “administrative zones” in which the international community, and preferably the United Nations, could guarantee protection.

“Unfortunately, the more attacks of this kind occur, the smaller the chance that Christians who have been forced to flee will return to their former homes, irrespective of whether or not they are successfully liberated by international forces, and this could unfortunately lead to the eradication of Christian communities in this part of the world”, he said, adding that this is precisely the goal of the Islamic State, the realisation of which must not be allowed under any circumstances.

(Ministry of Human Capacities/MTI)