Charity for the Hungarian minority in Ukraine

Charity for the Hungarian minority in Ukraine

The Hungarian minority in Ukraine has faced severe discrimination and persecution, violence, and myriad restrictions in recent history.

Historical Background:

The Hungarian community (approx. 130k people) living mostly in the administrative region Zakarpattia Oblast has been an extremely vulnerable group who were forced into four different states during the course of the 20th Century (without ever leaving their homeland).

After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of WWI, they became members of Czechslovakia in which all Hungarians who did not renounce their national identity were declared as war criminals. In 1938, the territory was handed back to the Hungarian state, but in the wake of WWII it became part of the Soviet Union. There the Hungarian minority became one of the principal political targets of the Stalinist regime, facing deportation and forced labour. In 1991, the region was given to the newly formed Ukrainian state.

The contemporary plight of the Hungarian minority:

Ethnic tensions have only escalated since the dissolution of the Soviet state, and the Hungarian community is facing severe restrictions on their individual and collective rights by the Ukranian state. Hostility towards minorities in the wake of the loss of Crimea to Russia is now fueling ultra-nationalism and intolerance. We are witnessing anti-Hungarian, xenophobic phenomena, such as the desecration of Hungarian-related monuments desecration of Hungarian-related monuments and hate speech describing members of the small Hungarian minority in Ukraine as enemies of the Ukrainian people. Not to mention the recent ban on minority languages in schools in the government’s attempt to create national unity, under which those who transgress the law may face up to three years in prison.

The need for charity: poverty and deprivation

Ukraine is the second poorest country in Europe, with a minimum wage of $120 per month. The economic crisis and inflation in the wake of the ongoing war with Russia mean, for many people, existential struggle for food and clothing on an every day basis. The price of bread is now five times higher than a couple of years before with minimum wages remaining the same.

These have extremely adverse effects on the Hungarian minority’s region which has the highest rate of unemployment (60%) and the lowest wages in the whole country.

Call for Charity:

Financial help is required more than ever. Please donate if you have the means, and your donation will be distributed across various charities and NGOs that do humanitarian work in the region.

Thank you for your help!

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