Foreign minister: 11 Christians killed daily for their faith worldwide

Every day, 11 Christians are killed because of their religion worldwide, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told a conference in Washington, DC, on Thursday local time.

Religious persecution has become one of the greatest security risks in the world, Szijjártó told the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom. Christians make up 80 percent of those suffering from such atrocities, with some 245 million having endured some form of persecution last year, mostly in the Middle East and Africa, he said.

In recent years, the Hungarian government has spent 36.5 million dollars on supporting those Christian communities so they can thrive in their homelands and to prevent another wave of migration towards Europe, Szijjártó said.

He said it was regrettable that international organisations hesitate to speak openly about the persecution of Christians and mainstream European policies and the “political elite” suggest that “the persecution of Christians is the last acceptable form of discrimination”.

He said that hopefully, the US, as well as Hungary, Poland, Italy and the United Kingdom, would prompt those organisations to promote religious freedom and stand up against the persecution of Christians.

On the sidelines of the conference, Szijjártó had meetings with representatives of the US, the UK, Italy and Poland.

He also held bilateral talks with Montenegrin Foreign Minister Srdjan Darmanovic, Tariq Mahmood Ahmad, the UK prime minister’s special representative on preventing sexual violence and conflict, and Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abdul Momen, among others.

The ministerial was organised by the US Department of State for the second time and hosted by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Source: MTI