children

Another horror weekend in Hungary – people must have gone mad by the lockdown

Knife Evidence Kitchen Konyhakés Bizonyíték

The last week was once again ripe with crime. It might be the lockdown that has been going on for almost another four months now, or it might simply be the direction the world is changing to. Last week a duo of drug dealers used their daughter to help them sell drugs, a family father pulled out a machete and started chasing his son’s birthday guests and lastly, an argument turned into a bloody mess as the man stabbed his partner with a kitchen knife.

Illegal drug trade

The Baranya county Police Headquarters investigated a 31-year-old woman from Pécs and her partner, a 35-year-old man from Enying for drug trafficking

with a new psychoactive substance. According to Bama, the police arrested the pair some time ago, but the investigation was only closed recently. The Pécs Police arranged a coordinated operation to raid the two suspects due to a well-founded suspicion that they are dealing drugs regularly in Pécs.

Investigators conducted a thorough search of the man’s and woman’s apartments, during which they found and seized 100 grams of suspicious plant derivatives, 54 grams of white powder thought to be drugs and have found pills, gels, and nearly half a million HUF (€ 1,400) in cash.

The woman is suspected of endangering a minor, as the police believe that at the request of the mother, her daughter was also selling psychoactive substances to several people.

During the investigation, the police have found another suspect, a 34-year-old man from Pécs, who was later arrested by the police. There is a well-founded suspicion that the man sold marijuana to the woman, who then dealt it to her own customers. Police searched the man’s apartment and have found 52 grams of plant derivatives suspected to be drugs, and a few other suspicious items, such as pills and a digital scale. He was prosecuted for illegal drug trade by the police. After their interrogation, the regional court initiated the arrest of the woman and the two men. The police have handed over the documents to the prosecutor’s office in the last few days.

In another case, Hungarian police have successfully busted an illegal crime cave and have managed to shut down a criminal organisation as part of international cooperation for selling Hungarian woman as prostitutes to Germany.

Machate Macséta Evidence Bizonyíték — Source: Police.hu

Birthday party went wrong

A family father in Borsodszikra has found a strange way to thank his son’s birthday guests for coming.

The 62-year-old man was detained and interrogated by the Rudabánya Police on the basis of a well-founded suspicion of altercation.

The suspect got into an argument with his son’s birthday guests at midnight on February 20, 2021, at their home in Borsodszirák. The enraged father pulled out a machete and threatened the guests. The young people were fleeing, but the man continued his chase through their garden. Fortunately, no injuries happened during the incident. The police detained the man who refused to testify during his interrogation as a suspect.

Family quarrel lead to bloodshed

The Heves county police have detained a 45-year-old man. Based on their current standpoint, the Criminal Department of the Heves County Police Headquarters is prosecuting the man from Kisnána for causing life-threatening bodily injuries.

According to the investigation, on February 20, 2021, the 45-year-old man stabbed his partner with a kitchen knife in their family home in Kisnána several times and then also injured himself with the weapon. Ambulance staff transported both of them to the hospital. According to the reports, the victim has suffered life-threatening injuries.

Police detained and interrogated the man as the suspect; he testified. A motion was made for his arrest.

Read alsoMan tried raping his 7-year-old daughter in Sárkeresztúr, Hungary – 18+

February 22, 2021

Hundreds of Hungarian children will be victims of human trafficking

A joint report by ECPAT and the Hintalovon Foundation found that children living in deep poverty are much more likely to become victims of sexual exploitation.

Children in public care are often removed from their home for financial reasons. Unfortunately, both children coming from financial hardship and Roma children are particularly at risk. It also turned out that most victims of sexual exploitation come from the poorest regions of the country. In many cases, these are children who have already been sexually abused in their families and have suffered severe trauma as a result, writes 444.hu.

It is a shocking fact that half of the victims of sexual trafficking registered in the European Union in 2015 and 2016 were Hungarians.

This means that out of 1310 cases, 647 were people from Hungary. 64 per cent of the 647 cases were children and what is even more shocking that 7.4 per cent were under the age of 11.

To protect children, the foundation and international forums believe that the age limit for marriage should be raised to 18 years. This would give children better protection from the sexual exploitation that is often disguised as marriage. There is no exact data, but according to experts, Roma girls are particularly at risk in this regard.

According to the report, it is a positive change that in 2020 the definition of “suspected victim of human trafficking” also appeared in the Hungarian legislation. All minors offered to provide sexual services who are reached by the authorities automatically fall into this category. They must be provided with general protection and transported to a designated children’s home. Previously,

these minors were even punishable.

It is also a positive change that in 2019, 22 qualified human trafficking specialists were appointed at county police stations. Nevertheless, the services provided to victims are still insufficient in both quality and quantity.

The report only contains published statistics and information obtained through a public interest data request. According to a UN report published in early February, the number of children victims of trafficking has almost tripled in the last 15 years.

February 17, 2021

Hungarian parents submit children to barbaric parenting

A foster parent and her husband beat their minor children with trouser straps and made them kneel on corn.

According to 24.hu, the Veszprém District Prosecutor’s Office has filed charges against a foster parent and her husband for endangering minors and injuring persons who are unable to defend themselves. The parents’ “parenting methods” included kneeling on corn or on the doorstep.

As we wrote before, the situation of child abuse in Hungary is shocking: there may be ten to twenty-five times as many cases of child abuse in Hungary as anticipated, more information HERE.

According to a statement issued by the county’s attorney general’s office on Friday, the children, a little girl and her brother, were placed in the summer of 2018 under the custody of a woman and her husband who worked as professional foster parents living in one of the villages around Zirc.

The couple abused the children several times; the 56-year-old man made them lay on the ground and beat them with a trouser strap or cord, but sometimes he forced the children to kneel on corn or on the doorstep for several hours.

His 48-year-old wife also abused the siblings more than once. She made them stand in a corner and punished the minors by hitting or kicking them.

In addition to these acts, emotional and mental abuse was also an everyday means of discipline.

The adults threatened the two kids by saying things such as “kicking the devil out of them” or “taking them out to the fox hole”. When the authorities were informed about the fact that the couple was abusing the children in their care, they ordered the parents’ psychological examination, along with the examination of the children, but the foster parents only showed up after several delays and protested against the examination.

The man blackmailed the kids with the consequence of their “lies” and forbade them to play with each other. The relevant government agency finally placed the children under the custody of other foster parents in October 2019. In its indictment, the prosecutor’s office filed a motion with the Veszprém District Court to impose a prison sentence on the couple and a permanent ban on any occupation related to the child-rearing, supervision, and care of minors, the statement states.

Read alsoShocking: Domestic abuse kills at least one woman weekly in Hungary

February 13, 2021

Hungarian ombudsman orders probe into conditions at orphanage

The ombudsman for fundamental rights has ordered a review of the conditions at a children’s home in Kalocsa, in southern Hungary, based on media reports and lawmaker accounts of “serious concerns” and allegations regarding the institution, the ombudsman’s office said on Monday.

Independent MP Bernadett Szél announced that she was turning to the ombudsman and the human resources ministry over reports of child abuse at the Kalocsa orphanage in August last year.

The ombudsman’s office said in a statement that

it had conducted a surprise inspection of the children’s home last Thursday, interviewing children and staff.

Ákos Kozma, the ombudsman for fundamental rights, will release a report of the investigation’s findings, including on the operations of the orphanage and the enforcement of children’s fundamental rights, once the review is concluded, they added.

As we wrote before, there may be ten to twenty-five times more victims of child abuse in Hungary than a study anticipated. Unfortunately, the pandemic only worsened the situation, read details HERE.

Read alsoHungary to extradite US man wanted for child sexual abuse

February 8, 2021

Hungary to extradite US man wanted for child sexual abuse

A Budapest court on Friday ruled that an American national can be extradited to face charges of child sexual abuse.

The Budapest Municipal Court said in a statement that it has ordered the man’s temporary detention, agreeing to a request by the US authorities.

The man wanted for child sexual abuse and other crimes faces life sentences on three counts and a prison term of 2 years and 10 months on one count of the charges against him, the statement said.

At his court hearing, the man agreed to his extradition under the so-called Rule of Speciality, which says that an individual can only be tried for offences in connection with which they were extradited.

The documents of the case will now be referred to the justice minister, the statement said.

Read alsoTerrible! Aggressive father brutally abused his wife and minor children

January 30, 2021

Symptom-free coronavirus infection caused severe complications in Hungarian children

Forty such children were treated in the Heim Pál Children’s Hospital.

Young children, who previously had asymptomatic coronavirus infection, were admitted to the intensive care unit with severe complications. RTL News reported that 40 such children were treated either in the intensive care unit or in the internal medicine department at the Heim Pál Hospital.

Unfortunately, they developed several serious inflammatory diseases after contracting the infection.

The news broadcast was informed by the hospital that they are currently treating 7 children with multiple organ inflammation, one of whom is nursed at the intensive care unit. It takes 6 weeks after the children are released to ascertain whether they have fully recovered or not.

“It turned out that there was water in both of his lungs and there was inflammation on the left side, although there was no sign of that. He had no difficulty breathing, no shortness of breath, only a high fever, a very high heart rate, and abdominal pain,” said one of the mothers.

Experts claim that Covid-19 is less dangerous for children, the infection is usually asymptomatic, and the course of the disease is mild.

However, as the above cases demonstrate, there is a so-called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) that can develop after the disease.

‘Pandemic’ to become a new female name in Hungary?

Hungarian parents wanted to register an extraordinary number of new first names last year, almost twice as many applications were received at the Institute of Linguistics in 2020 as in the previous years.

24.hu asked Dr. Judit Raátz, who said that this may have been due to the fact that parents had more time to think of names during the epidemic.

The institute received 609 applications in 2020, out of which only 46 female and 21 male names were approved.

“The majority of applicants want to register a name used abroad. These are typical names that can already be registered, but only in accordance with Hungarian spelling. However, parents want to use foreign spelling instead”

Examples of female names adopted in 2020 are Greek Altea, Elefteria, Arabic Nabila, German Lizel, Valburga, French Solina, Spanish Asella, English Heli. Male names also include Arabic (Osama, Latif, Faris, Fadi), German (Randolf), English (Lex, Szkott), Old Norse (Ejnár) and Hebrew (Raziel, Zetár) origins.

Interestingly, there was one couple who was inspired by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Fortunately we only had one such name request. A parent wanted to register the name Pandemic for their little girl. Of course, the name was not approved for registration.”

Finally, it seems like the trend which started a 10-15 years ago continues: everyone wants to give their child a special, unique name.

Read alsoThe most common Hungarian names and their relationship with history – male names

January 22, 2021

5 year-old Hungarian girl suffering from a disease totally unknown

CsodaCsoport collected, in only two days, 1.1 million forints (more than 3000 euros) for the developmental therapies of a 5-year-old little girl suffering from an extremely rare genetic disease.

Fanni has been fighting for five years now against this disease which is not even registered or known in Hungary. It is the rarest among uncommon diseases; it does not even have a name yet. There is no cure nor a remedy that would work.

Fanni’s sickness started when she was only four months old, when her health visitor noticed that she could not hold her head or turn on her stomach on her own. Her parents have been going from doctor to doctor with her ever since, but for more than three years, they were left in the dark. Finally, her blood sample was sent to Finland, where it was tested for hundreds of genetic diseases.

Fanni’s genetic disorder was found, but then another shock came: her disease is so rare that only 28 people apart from her, around the whole world, suffer from it.

“Science only knows about three people and their history with the disease. The developmental level of these people varies. Some of them are able to communicate, move. But how? Do they only gaggle, or are they able to speak in complete sentences? Can they run or do they live their whole life in a pushchair? We do not know that, and neither do we know the limit in Fanni’s development. However, she already proved that there is hope even among impossible circumstances.” – said Beatrix Szabó, the mother of Fanni to blikk.hu, who was taking her daughter to the Pethő Institute for her movement therapy.

“Currently she is already able to stand on her own, and with the help of a three-legged stick, she can walk, however unstable her movements are. This is already considerable progress, as doctors told us since the beginning that she may never be able to walk because her muscles were very weak.

She has not talked at all until she was 4, in the past six months, however, she is developing incredibly, thanks to her speech therapist.”

– said her mother, who also added that Fanni is always in a good mood, she keeps on smiling through all her therapy sessions that seem endless, and she enjoys every minute of her development process. According to Beatrix, she always helps her less fortunate friends who are doing worse than her; she tries to walk to them, console them. It’s like she tries to tell them “Don’t worry, you will make it.”

Although there is very few knowledge about the disease, Beatrix and her partner, Pali do everything to give their daughter the possibility to live a full life. With the help of CsodaCsoport, they started a fundraiser to assure her therapy for an entire year.

“I firmly believe that Fanni will dance with his dad at her prom one day. She is my daughter, I need to believe in her!

The fact that total strangers are capable of completely trusting our little miracle gives us the strength to go on. Thank you!” – added Beatrix.

Fanni’s muscles are fragile for which she needs constant movement therapy, at least until she is growing. If Fanni’s story touched you the slightest and you have the mean to help her, even just a little, you can support the family by donating to this bank account:
Szabó Beatrix
OTP 11773425-05550627
IBAN: HU78 11773425-05550627-0000 0000
SWIFT: OTPVHUHB
message: adomány

If you got yourself into real charity mode, read about the sad story of this Hungarian father who lost his wife, raises their son alone while being diagnosed with an auto-immune disease.

Read alsoThe Hungarian wonder girl who is going to sing operettas in New York’s Carnegie Hall – VIDEO

January 12, 2021

3 extraordinary private high schools in Budapest, according to Forbes

Hungary might not be the most developed country in the world, or even in Europe, but there have always been some educational institutions that reached that level or did even more. In this article, you can get to know three Hungarian private high schools that are not your average Joe. These high schools are following the ‘Western’ method to provide the best education possible and to prepare students for the world of work. Some are especially for atypical talents while others can provide international school leaving certificates.

For the third year in a row, Forbes has made a compilation of private schools, but this year, they are not introducing primary schools but rather private high schools in Budapest. In these institutions, children are promised to be freer, the teacher-student relationship is more informal, and personal attention is greater, for tuition ranging from HUF 10,000 (€~28) to about HUF 200,000 (€~560) a month, of course. Only schools that had at least one graduating class were considered, so some of the newest institutions could not make the list. This list is not complete; find the full list in Forbes‘ January issue.

There are high schools where education is organised on the basis of an alternative curriculum, discarding the division of subjects; the world does not exist in separate subjects either, but they are connected. However, most private schools still teach according to the national core curriculum, but even these are organising projects, introducing cooperative techniques, organising self-awareness classes and career guidance sessions so that teens can find their place in the world. A new elite international school is also underway in Hungary.

“We consider it important that children have a good time, learn to form their own opinions, be open, and dare to ask questions,” says the principal of the József Budenz Foundation High School.

Alternatív Közgazdasági Gimnázium (AKG) (Alternative High School of Economics)

Tuition: on average, HUF 85,000 to 100,000 (€~240 to 280) a month, depending on classes (one-third of those admitted offer a bid, so some may pay millions and others much less: this is how the annual budget of HUF 2,000,000,000 (two billion) (€~5.6 million) comes together, which is then supplemented by state funding of HUF 360 million (€~1 million)).

AKG is essentially the only alternative elite high school: its performance is on a par with that of traditional elite high schools.

It has been operating as a network of smaller independent schools since 1996. All 25 smaller schools are connected in a non-hierarchical system, and teachers, gyms, libraries, and digital systems are equally available to each school. Each child has their own ‘patron’, and they use individual programs.

In the first years of high school, there are no classical subjects, such as Physics or Chemistry, these are studied by students with an optional intensity in the last two years, and only the subjects they need. They have been utilising online learning at AKG for six years now, and it can be said that it is Microsoft’s model for digital learning as all of their curricula is available digitally, so during the pandemic, it was very easy for them to switch to online education.

The rate of pursuing further education is approaching 100% (a few children pursue an art career).

Európa 2000 Gimnázium (Europe 2000 High School)

Tuition: HUF 1.08 million (€~3,000) a year, but participating in the bilingual program costs more: HUF 1.98 million (€~5,500).

Originally, it was a vocational school when it was founded by the parents of the current principal, András Papp, in 1992. It later switched to being a vocational high school (offering both a profession and a school leaving certificate) with a degree in Economics, Trade and Tourism, and Hospitality, and organised accredited higher education classes. The big shift took place five years ago when private schools could no longer provide vocational training.

For a few years now, they have had a six- and an eight-year course apart from originally only offering four-year courses and, as a speciality, from year 9 (freshman in a four-year course), they study international entrepreneurship as well as film and media studies four hours a week each as part of their education. “We do not train professionals, we simply introduce students these areas so they can better decide what interests them,” says András Papp, the principal.

By the end of 12th grade, they will learn to make a business plan so that if they have a business idea, they can get their parents’ attention or, if they are really adept, can even find outside investors.

Their curriculum is alternative in nature, but they can still implement it within the framework dictated by the core curriculum. They offer English-Hungarian bilingual education in their four- and eight-year programs, and 5th graders can join without any language skills. Most of the classes have two teachers: one is a native English speaker and the other is Hungarian. They do not translate each other but teach in symbiosis.

“I always say that I want to run a school that I would like for my child as well,” says András Papp, whose son really does study there.

They began introducing digital education three years ago and could implement 90% of their classes online easily. “We actively used digital devices in normal education to prepare our students for the work environment of the 21st century”.

Zöld Kakas Líceum (Green Rooster Lyceum)

Tuition: Technically none, but the student employment agency working with the Lyceum requests a fee of HUF 300,000 (€~840) a year from the school’s students for its services.

“I was a very kind Hungarian language teacher in high school, with my only difficulty being that I always loved working with children that everyone else wanted to kick out,” recalls Mária Kerényi, the principal, recalling the founding of the school more than twenty years ago. She says that students enrolled by the school have lately been seen as atypical talents. They develop in a very unique way, and personalised help is considered important.

Learning paths are personalised, there are no failures, each student moves at their own pace and meets the study requirements as is best for them. “Someone may be on the 11th-grade level of some subjects but, for example, in Mathematics, only at the 9th-grade level, but they will meet the requirements of high school or vocational high school graduation. There is time for that, as the school welcomes all students from the 1st grade of primary school to the 14th grade of vocational training”.

The school has previously developed its own alternative framework curriculum, but now they are operating on the basis of a license for individual solutions, i.e., they use atypical methods for the development of atypical talents.

Read alsoGovernment to buy EUR 2.3m worth building in Budapest for a Chinese university

January 3, 2021

Minister: One million benefit from government family protection scheme

The government’s family protection action plan has helped 220,000 families, some one million people since it was launched 18 months ago, Katalin Novák, minister without portfolio in charge of families, said in an interview published by daily Magyar Hírlap on Thursday.

Novák welcomed that in Hungary “a commitment to families, to having children has been increasing in recent years” and suggested that this policy was supported by the government’s measures.

She added that ensuring a life-long exemption from the personal income tax to mothers with four or more children was “an option not seen in any other country”.

Referring to single parents, Novák said they deserved “appreciation and help because they have to work for two persons”.

Novák said that first time home buyers would be provided further assistance from January on, adding that goal was not only to encourage couples to have children but to improve conditions for families as the children grow up.

Novák also mentioned that pensioners would be receiving an extra week’s pension in January, as the first instalment of 13th month pension to be restored gradually by 2024.

Concerning her Fidesz party, Novák referred to the ruling party as “a truly conservative, Christian democratic community bent on promoting truth rather than fighting for power itself.”

Read alsoHungary family policy aimed at slowing population decline, says minister

Read alsoHungarian family kicked off plane in the U.S. because 2-year-old would not wear a mask

December 25, 2020

Coronavirus being totally harmless to children is a huge misconception

Some weeks after the active phase of the infection, patients develop an inflammation that attacks several organs. This state requires serious and intensive therapy, occasionally even ventilation, said Dr György Velkey, director-general of Bethesda Children’s Hospital to InfoRádio.

The doctor talked about the general situation in children’s hospitals, the fears these sick kids have, how the pandemic changed their lives, and how to explain this crazy situation and the importance of following the rules to little kids whose everyday routine was changed from one day to another.

Children need increased attention and care during a pandemic; primarily, their fears need to be paid attention to,

writes infostart.hu. Dr György Velkey says the fear of going to a hospital and having the possibility of catching the virus from each other is very high in the case of children as well. The hospital does everything they can to make them feel safe and taken care of. Of course, the first step is respecting basic measures such as wearing a mask properly, hand sanitation, and keeping the distance from each other, but properly ventilating areas plays an important role, too. Moreover, the Bethesda Hospital works with more staff on duty in order to decrease the waiting time. He says this measure proved to be successful as they can protect each other inside the hospital from transmitting the disease.

Since the first wave of the virus and the lockdown started, the number of playground accidents have changed significantly. The usual high number of these accidents around spring and autumn was very low this year, whereas smaller, at-home accidents, such as falling from a chair, a table, or smaller burns or scalds, happened much more often. The director-general mentioned that altogether, the number of accidents was lower this year since by keeping the distance, infections, in general, are less likely to be passed on. This, however, does not mean that the hospital staff has less work; it simply shows how the general lifestyle has changed these past months.

He goes on pointing out that the main children’s hospital treating young coronavirus patients is the Heim Pál Children’s Hospital in Budapest, which means that the Bethesda Hospital accepts children from all over the country in the case their local hospital is not able to tend to them. However, they also do have some coronavirus patients from time to time, depending on the kid, whether they have an underlying disease or had been treated there previously and doctors know them.

A common misconception is that the coronavirus is less dangerous to children, and its more serious variation is rare when it comes to them. However, there is a disease, an inflammation that attacks several organs at once, that appears a couple of weeks after the active phase of the infection, requiring particularly serious and intensive therapy that can result in the need of ventilation. He goes on to add that

Right now, we do have a patient who is doing much better at the moment, but in the past days, we had to fight for his life. We talk to colleagues in other facilities who mention that this case can happen from time to time in other, bigger emergency units as well.

It is not possible to prevent this phase, as in most cases, children do not show symptoms of the coronavirus, and only after the appearance of the inflammation can they tell that the virus had been the cause triggering it. Usually, these children feel a bit sick, have less energy, spend more time in bed, and maybe their limbs feel a bit colder. All these symptoms appear rather quickly. It is very important to take them to hospital at this point to avoid further consequences.

So, it is a misconception that the virus is totally harmless to children.

It is very important to know that kids are smart; they observe and detect all changes happening around them. We need to listen to them, to their fears and questions and answer them directly and with the truth. A hyperactive kid, for instance, will become more intense if he is locked inside. More sensitive children, on the other hand, can develop physical symptoms as they react to changes in the family and society. Especially in the case of teenagers, conflicts within the family can intensify that can affect both kids and parents mentally. As we wrote about it, these tensions intensifying can lead to physical abuse. So, it is extremely crucial to know that children, in general, require more attention and care during these times.

Read alsoHungarian hospitals ventilate coronavirus patients with the help of a snorkelling mask

December 25, 2020

Public media raises EUR 513,000 to help children with autism

Hungary’s public media has raised a total 185 million forints (EUR 513,000) this year, to be spent on a new centre providing diagnoses and therapies for children with autism, public media foundation MTVA reported on Monday.

“The public media is committed to taking a role in society, while it is an honour to be contributing to a new institution that is unique in the country,” MTVA quoted Beatrix Siklósi, the head of public Kossuth Radio and manager of the annual charity campaign dubbed “Good to be good”, as saying.

The new centre is expected to be opened next spring under the auspices of Budapest’s Heim Pál Paediatric Hospital in the city’s 13th district.

The charity campaign continues to welcome donations for the Together for Autists Foundation. Dialling 13616 or sending a text message to the same number will add 500 forints to the foundation’s account.

Mikulástroli Santa Claus Trolleybus Karácsony Christmas 2

Read alsoHop on Santa’s trolleybus in Budapest and meet him in person – PHOTO GALLERY

December 22, 2020

Kindergarten teacher washed a boy’s mouth with soap?

According to the parents, their child’s – who is hearing impaired, struggles with integration, and has learning disabilities – mouth was washed with soap at the kindergarten because he was using bad language. They say the boy lives in fear and has a sleeping disorder ever since the accident.

As Szeretlek Magyarország reports, based on RTL News, the mother claims that her son’s mouth was washed with soap in a kindergarten in Budapest. The boy is five years old, hearing impaired, struggles with integration, and has learning disabilities.

The mother explained: “We were on the way home when he started to cry, then he told me that his mouth was washed with soap because he used bad language.”

She said that one of the kindergarten assistants did it to her son, so the parents first went to her to ask for an explanation.

“She told me that part of this happened. She denied that it happened with soap; she said she only washed my son’s mouth with water and that she told him before that she would do it if he used bad language, so she also kept him in fear,” explained the mother.

“He developed serious sleeping disorders. I could not take him near the bathroom for two days because he was crying so much and was upset about what was done to him. From 5 or even from 4:30 am he was up, he cannot sleep, woke up crying and is in fear that it will happen again.”

The mother will take the child to another kindergarten from January. Now a psychologist helps the boy. After talking to the kindergarten assistant, the parents filed a complaint to the person in charge of the kindergarten, who told RTL that the kindergarten’s employee only washed the child’s face with water in order to handle a difficult situation. The person in charge, however, did not find this justified, so with respect to the protocols, the kindergarten assistant was first held accountable orally, and now they have also initiated an investigation in the case.

“We are including child protection experts to examine in more detail the effect this could have on the child, or what other details there are that could help better understand the case,” the principal of the kindergarten said.

The parents pressed charges for child abuse, and the police are currently investigating the case.

Read alsoThis is how thousands of children disappear in Hungary in 2020

December 18, 2020

This is how thousands of children disappear in Hungary in 2020

By the 2 November 2020, a total of 15,398 alerts had been issued in Hungary due to children disappearing. However, this does not mean 15,000 disappearances, as the statistics show the number of alerts, so if a child escapes 100 times a year – because there was an example of that -, they issue an alert 100 times. Penzcentrum requested official data from the ORFK (Hungarian Police Headquarter) about the number of minors disappearing, the most common causes of disappearance, and the rates of turning up, which were analysed in more detail by Orsolya Táler, the managing director of the Blue-Line Children’s Crisis Foundation.

According to Portfolio, until the 2 November 2020, 1,567 cases of disappearance have been ordered in Hungary for young people aged 0-14. That number was 13,831 among 14-18-year-olds, Penzcentrum learned from the ORFK. In total, this means that by the 2 November 2020,

15,398 alerts have been issued for minors.

This number was 16,885 in 2014, compared to 19,279 in the most prominent year of the last 6 years, in 2015. All this means that if the 2020 trend continues for the last two months of the year, the best result of the last six years can be achieved, regarding the disappearance of minors, while data on juveniles will be largely stagnant.

Penzcentrum analysed the data with the help of Orsolya Táler, the managing director of the Blue-Line Children’s Crisis Foundation. The expert said that the vast majority of alerts for minors – we can talk about a proportion above 88 per cent – means disappearing from Child Protection Specialised Care in Hungary. In the article, the expert also discusses what the reason for the escapes from children’s homes and apartment homes may be, why the system is helpless, and what the alert list data is really about.

It is important to note that the number of recorded alerts is not the same as the number of disappearances.

In the case of minors, the high number of alerts is typically due to the number of minors who have left the place of care without permission and do not return there at the prescribed time, are placed in temporary care and placed in foster care – emphasised the ORFK’s interpretation of the statistics, adding that “in these cases, we cannot speak of disappearances in the traditional sense of the word because in most cases, the minor’s place of residence is generally known.

It happened that a minor left their place of care without permission several times a year. The reason is most often a conflict situation between parents or between a parent and a child, or a custody battle. Regarding the disappearances, the ORFK also said that according to the statistics, the chances of turning up are very high. About 95% of cases are resolved within a month.

December 6, 2020

Pandemic could push 72 million more children into “learning poverty”

COVID-19-related school closures risk pushing an additional 72 million primary school aged children into “learning poverty” – meaning that they are unable to read and understand a simple text by age 10, the World Bank said Wednesday.

The pandemic is amplifying the global learning crisis that already existed, according to two new World Bank reports, which outlined a new vision for learning and the investments and policies needed, including on education technology.

The pandemic could increase the percentage of primary school-age children in low- and middle-income countries living in learning poverty to 63 percent from 53 percent, and it puts this generation of students at risk of losing about 10 trillion dollars in future life-time earnings, an amount equivalent to almost 10 percent of global GDP, the reports showed.

School closures as a result of COVID-19 have left most students on the planet out of school – 1.6 billion students at the peak in April 2020, and still almost 700 million students today, according to the reports.

The negative impact of the unprecedented global economic contraction on family incomes has increased the risk of school dropouts, the reports said, noting that marginalized groups are likely to fall further behind.

In responding to the pandemic, education systems have been forced to rapidly implement innovations in remote learning at scale. However, the huge digital divides and inequalities in the quality of parental support and home learning environments is amplifying learning inequality.

“Without urgent action, this generation of students may never achieve their full capabilities and earnings potential, and countries will lose essential human capital to sustain long-term economic growth,” said Mamta Murthi, World Bank Vice President for Human Development, in a virtual launch event Wednesday.

“Through visionary and bold action, policymakers and stakeholders around the globe can turn this crisis into a boon to transform education systems so that all children can truly achieve learning with joy, rigor, and purpose, everywhere,” Murthi said.

Read alsoUNICEF: No remote learning for at least 463 million children

December 3, 2020

Thousands of children are abused in Hungary

There may be ten to twenty-five times more victims of child abuse in Hungary than the study anticipated. Unfortunately, the pandemic only worsened the situation.

“One billion children are abused worldwide each year, and during the coronavirus epidemic, the number of these cases increased by 30 per cent, due to the confinement and existential crisis that increased the aggression that often befalls the child. We know of the families of 140 million children that have sunk into deep poverty because of the virus. Moreover, 463 million children did not have access to digital education at all,” said Antónia Mészáros, Executive Director of UNICEF Hungary, during the online press conference yesterday on the occasion of World Children’s Day, writes Népszava.

Regarding the situation of child abuse in Hungary, Viola Szlankó, UNICEF Hungary’s Child Rights Expert, said: the latency is huge, the multiplier varies in each estimate, but according to the official standpoint, there may be ten to twenty-five times as many cases of child abuse in Hungary as anticipated.

“Ten per cent of children are at risk in some way in the country, which means 170,000 children who are at risk for their physical/ spiritual/ mental health development.

Not all of them are involved in child abuse. Child protection services estimated the number of victims around 7-8,000 in 2019, but experts are also reluctant to give figures due to high latency. In addition, many people do not even understand the concept of emotional abuse, humiliation, and the undermining of one’s dignity. We recognise this in an adult-adult relationship, but in a child-adult relationship, it does not always work out,” says the child rights expert.

Regarding the operation and efficiency of the child protection system in Hungary, she noted: at the legal level, the system is excellent. The problem is not with legislation, but with its application. “Hungarian child protection professionals are very good, but there are still very few resources allocated by the current government to enforce the law,” she indicated.

Viola Szlankó also presented the international data at the press conference. It turned out that 91 per cent of children under the age of five live in countries where corporal punishment at home is not illegal. So far, only 60 countries have passed legislation banning all forms of corporal punishment within the family. 75 per cent of children aged between 2 to 4 are regularly disciplined by a parent or guardian with violence. More than a third of the students have already experienced school violence in the 13-15 age group, and with 9 out of 10 adolescent girls who have been sexually abused, the perpetrator happened to be a close relative.

UNICEF also drew attention to the fact that every 7 minutes, a child dies as a result of adolescent violence. The majority of deaths are the result of homicide; in 2017, 40,000 children became victims of murder.

To protect the interest of children and adolescents, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted on the 20th of November, 31 years ago, to guarantee the fundamental rights of children in 196 countries around the world, and it is still the most widely accepted international human rights document. On the eve of the World Children’s Day, two dozen iconic buildings in nine Hungarian cities received blue decorative lighting, to remind us of the importance of children’s rights.

In November, UNICEF Hungary also aims to raise awareness of the shared responsibility of society through the “Recognise and Act Against It” campaign. Campaign posters are visible nationwide, and information on the different types of child abuse is provided on their website through a free online master class. It was also announced yesterday that the HelpAPP application has been further developed, noticing an increase in the dangers lurking for children. If a child is abused or is in danger, the child can call for help or send his/her GPS coordinates at the touch of a button. The HelpAPP mobile app helps you recognise, avoid, and deal with violent situations.

November 22, 2020

Civil groups protest government’s bill tightening adoption rules

Eleven civil organisations protested the government’s new bill that would tighten rules on adoption in a joint statement on Friday, saying it would lead to more children having to grow up in state care and being adopted by foreign couples from abroad.

In their statement issued on the occasion of World Children’s Day, the civil groups said the Hungarian government’s bill would make it impossible for single people as well as unmarried and same-sex couples to adopt a child, thereby reducing the number of potential adoptions in the country.

Citing experts, the statement said state child-care homes were incapable of providing children the attention and emotional security they require for a healthy development, noting also the issue of abuse in certain homes.

“Therefore it is in the interest of every child that they grow up in a family or in the care of a community rather than in a care home,” the statement said, adding that this was in line with the guidelines of the United Nations and the Council of Europe.

The civil groups added that the bill would also further curtail the rights of transgender and intersex children.

The statement was signed by Amnesty International Hungary, Budapest Pride, gay rights group Hatter Tarsasag, the Labrisz Lesbian Association, the Parents and Supporters of LGBTQ Children group, Asexual Hungary, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the Hungarian LGBT Alliance, the Prizma Community, qLit and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ).

Hungarian government has no plans to change abortion laws

Read alsoCivil groups protest government’s bill tightening adoption rules

November 20, 2020

Minister: Controversial constitutional amendment proposal seeks to protect families

The government’s constitutional amendment proposal aimed at ensuring that all children are brought up according to Christian values seeks to protect Hungarian families, Katalin Novák, the minister for family affairs, told commercial news channel HirTV on Thursday.

The reason why the bill specifies that “the father is a man” and “the mother is a woman” and that children have a right to their gender of birth is because “these things are now being questioned in many parts of the world,” Novák said.

Many countries allow parents to decide whether or not they want to change their child’s gender, she said. “And if a girl in kindergarten plays with toy cars, she is taken to a psychologist to clarify if she is certain about her gender identity,” the minister added.

“This deprives the child of his or her fundamental sense of safety and this is not right.”

Concerning the new regulations on adoption, Novák said their aim was to give every child a chance to be raised in a family. Because the interests of the child must come first when it comes to adoption, she said, the law primarily supports adoption by couples. But in the event that no suitable couple can be found, a child may also be adopted by a single person, she added.

Put to her that the new regulations make it impossible for same-sex couples to adopt, Novák said this was already a fundamental principle in Hungarian law. “This is nothing new,” she said.

“This is the practice in Hungary.”

Read alsoOfficial: Hungarian government spends more on families than any other country in Europe

November 13, 2020