Who in the world hears the Hungarians?
A total of 3 million ethnic Hungarians live in the seven countries neighboring Hungary. Since the 1989 downfall of communism, HHRF has mobilized Western support for the positive initiatives and aspirations of these Hungarian minority communities to rebuild civil society, to promote economic self-reliance, and to nurture their traditions of educational and cultural excellence. Hungarian minorities are at the forefront of securing Western democratic values and contributing to regional stability. HHRF promotes international recognition and support for their novel solutions. How can you help? Be informed. Register on HHRF’s website (www.hhrf.org) to receive the latest news on Hungarian minorities. Make your voice heard. We’ll provide you with the tools to contact policy makers on the issues HHRF identifies and you care about. Take action. Join HHRF Local Resources Network to inform your hometown media, organize symposia, involve your community. Donate to HHRF. Consider regular contributions, sponsoring an HHRF intern, adopting a student in Romania, naming HHRF in your will or life insurance policy, asking your friends and employer to match your contribution. We’d like to hear from you. HHRF can become a much louder voice for the Hungarian minorities of Central Europe with your help. To donate your time or tax-deductible contribution, please fill out our reply form or call us at 212.289.5488. We can’t wait to hear from you—and neither can thousands of Hungarians all across Central Europe. To contact HHRF offices outside the United States, please click here. Our Organization. HHRF is a private, independent, nongovernmental, 501©(3) not-for-profit organization incorporated in the State of New York. We rely solely on contributions from concerned individuals. Thanks to generous matching support by our late benefactor Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen- Bornemisza, a modest portion of our operations continue to be funded by the HHRF-Bornemisza Fund. The General Operating Fund, Attila Kertész Scholarship Fund, HHRF Higher Education Fund, and targeted relief funds are especially short of needed support. HHRF Hungarian Human Rights Foundation United States 120 East 90 Street, Suite 5D New York, NY 10128 Telephone: (212) 289-5488 Fax: (212) 996-6268 Email: hamos@hhrf.org Hungary Kossuth tér 4, II.em. 63/A 1055 Budapest Telephone: (36-1) 441-3298 Fax: (36-1) 441-3299 Email: papp@hhrf.org Romania Str. Motilor 9, Apt. 10 400001 Cluj/Kolozsvár Telephone: (40-264) 199-561 Email: jozsa@hhrf.org		We listen. We help. The Hungarian Human Rights Foundation (HHRF) has been helping Hungarian minorities in Central Europe to be heard for nearly three decades. We’re the only professional organization in the West devoted to the rights of ethnic Hungarians in Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine, Croatia and Slovenia. Why we’re here. To help Hungarian minority communities secure their rightful place in the political, cultural and economic world of the 21st Century. What we’ve done. HHRF urged the US Congress to condemn the Ceausescu dictatorship, culminating in the 1987 vote to end Romania’s Most- Favored-Nation status. HHRF spearheaded release efforts of ethnic Hungarian political prisoners unjustly held in Romania after the 1989 revolution and subsequent anti-minority violence. HHRF has funded educational and cultural initiatives in five countries, including our Adopt-A-Student program for college students in Romania. HHRF has helped fund and develop international contacts for the Sapientia- Hungarian University of Transylvania. What we’re doing. HHRF leads an international campaign to keep ongoing violence against ethnic Hungarians in Serbia top of mind. In July 2004 US Congressional leaders protested, in January 2005, the European Parliament sent a fact-finding mission to Vojvodina. HHRF coordinates international pressure to return 2,140 church and community properties confiscated from ethnic Hungarians in Romania under communism. HHRF hosts free homepages for ethnic Hungarian groups through our popular www.hhrf.org website, encouraging a free-flowing global network for otherwise isolated communities. HHRF sponsors an internship and exchange program in New York and Budapest, allowing young people to learn about international minority rights protection firsthand. HHRF represents Hungarian minority communities at key forums, including the US Congress, Helsinki Final Act meetings, the Council of Europe and European Parliament. What’s next? To establish a permanent office in Brussels to articulate Hungarian minority aspirations in the new Europe. To adopt national minority rights in the EU legal and regulatory system through HHRF initiatives in the European Parliament. To create educational partnerships between the HHRF and the new Hungarian language János Selye University (Komárom, Slovakia), the teacher’s training college (Beregszász, Ukraine), and the planned bilingual college (Szabadka, Serbia). To expand the HHRF-maintained database and Property Restitution Working Group from Romania to Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine. To assist the Hungarian Standing Conference and other umbrella organizations in the Carpathian Basin to achieve regional autonomy of minorities and other aspirations.