PM Hungary
Thank you very much. Here I represent the Hungary Helps Initiative, with Hungary's global initiative,
including all humanitarian and international development projects. Our aim is to provide assistance
in the areas where it is needed that can raise hope for a new beginning instead of the uncertainty of
migration and forced emigration. We have reconstruction programs, humanitarian actions in the
Middle East and Central Africa, including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Kenya, Tanzania, and in Nigeria.
Hungary Helps gives a special attention to supporting the Middle Eastern and African Christian
communities that are a minority in their region. They are the ones living in war-torn areas,
experiencing humanitarian crisis, and are even more vulnerable in the face of attacks by religious
extremists who now threaten the sheer existence of thousand-year-old traditions. Youth in these
communities who have not escaped yet experienced discrimination or even persecution because of
their faith. In these places, children and youth who have become refugees or IDPs many times find it
impossible to continue their studies or get a proper education. I've been to Nigeria a few days ago to
launch a new program. We contributed to the reconstruction of three schools on the former Boko
Haram territory in ? . We have already supported the construction of a Qadian Catholic school in
Erbil, Iraq, where more than 600 refugees' children will be able to study by next year, Muslims and
Christians together. Our answer to this situation that affects thousands of young people in these
communities is offering scholarships. Stipendium Hungarikum is one of the largest scholarship
donors in Africa, with more than 900 state-financed scholarships. Altogether, there are more than
6,000 students studying at Hungarian universities for free, mainly from developing countries. The
Hungarian government also established a scholarship program for Christian young students who are
coming from the Middle East and Africa and have suffered atrocities of persecution by violent
terrorist groups. Both scholarship programs are key elements of Hungary Helps, primarily because
the students coming from crisis areas will return home after finishing their studies, playing a crucial
role in the reconstruction of their homelands and becoming new pillars of their cities and villages.
Without their ancient Christian communities, Middle East and Africa would lost a lot from its cultural
and religious diversity. We should not let it happen. Thank you.