BUDAPEST, November 29. /TASS/. Protection of the rights of national minorities in any country, including Ukraine, should be a priority for the entire international community, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said at the UN Forum on Minority Issues in Geneva.

"The international community is obligated to fight against violations of the rights of national minorities, no matter where they occur. The violation of minority rights cannot be considered a bilateral issue," the top diplomat said, referring to the Ukrainian authorities' violation of the rights of ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia.

Szijjarto recalled that "representatives of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia have been subjected to serious restrictions and violations of their rights" by the Ukrainian authorities. Some 150,000 ethnic Hungarians who live in Ukraine's Zakarpattia Region are denied the right to fully use their native language in areas such as local government, culture, education, and the media, the Hungarian foreign minister noted.

"There are even legislative attempts to ban the use of the native language in schools," Szijjarto specified. He emphasized that the protection of the interests of national minorities is enshrined in international law and any violations in this area should be considered from this perspective.

Earlier, the Hungarian government repeatedly stated that Ukraine's observance of the rights of the Hungarian national minority in Transcarpathia should become one of the criteria considered when starting negotiations on the country's accession to the European Union. Budapest warned that the rights of ethnic Hungarians must be restored to the extent that they existed before 2015; otherwise, it would not support Kiev's aspirations for EU integration.