Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, has announced that Hungary is extending its cooperation agreement with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) by one year with the aim of improving the situation of children fleeing Ukraine.
After meeting UNICEF’s executive director, Minister Szijjártó said in New York on Monday that basic questions concerning the future of children in Ukraine were becoming uncertain, “so children should be helped the most.” He added that more and more children would turn into the war’s victims the longer it lasted. Hungary, he noted, signed an agreement with UNICEF last year with a view to ensuring refugee children from Ukraine maximum support, with access to education and health care. Around 1,300 schools and kindergartens in Hungary have taken in Ukrainian children, he added. “Today we are extending the agreement by one year,” he said, noting that UNICEF and Hungary are cooperating on implementing professional programmes for the children involved. Szijjártó also emphasised that UNICEF moved its global service center to Hungary eight years ago, and the possibility of its expansion would be discussed.