Austria hails Hungary Helps programme

Austria has hailed the results of Hungary Helps as “exemplary,” the government official in charge of the program said after meeting the Austrian minister for women and integration in Vienna on Monday.

Tristan Azbej, the state secretary for helping persecuted Christians abroad and the Hungary Helps programme, met Susanna Raab, and said the consultation was a part of exchanges of knowledge and experiences between the Austrian and Hungarian governments related to Hungary’s policy of helping persecuted Christians.

Following Hungary’s example, Austria established a special government unit within the Chancellery to help persecuted Christian minorities at the start of the year, and its head made his first foreign visit to Budapest, Azbej noted.

Both sides, he said, held the view that helping people suffering persecution was bound up with European Christian identity. Yet, within the European Union, the issue of religious freedom outside of Europe was rather neglected, and people in the Western world were trying to keep the issue of Christian persecution quiet.

They also agreed that as well as combatting anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, the international community should protect the rights of persecuted Christians who deserve humanitarian aid.

Both Austria and Hungary will take action against religious persecution within the EU and exchange information on the number of persecuted Christians in the world, he said.

He said the countries would also examine possibilities for specific joint assistance programs, noting that Christian charity Missio Austria aids Christians living in Aleppo, Syria. He added that the sides plan to increase such cooperation at a higher government level.

read also:

• Hungarian government continues to be ready to contribute to international humanitarian aid, details HERE
• Azbej discusses joint efforts to mitigate crises in Europe, Africa, details HERE