Cultural Alliance of Hungarians in Sub-Carpathia

The Cultural Alliance of Hungarians in Sub-Carpathia was founded on 26 February 1989 in Uzhhorod. The KMKSZ is a minority social organisation that protects the cultural, political and social interests of Hungarians living in Sub-Carpathia.

The fundamental task of the KMKSZ is to protect the interests of Hungarians in Sub-Carpathia. It carries out its activities in accordance with international legal norms and the Constitution and laws of Ukraine. It participates in the political life of our region and our country. It makes proposals to state bodies in order to enforce the individual and collective rights of Hungarians in Sub-Carpathia. It nominates candidates for elections, conducts election campaigns, and delegates spokespersons and advisers to state and local government bodies. It promotes the extension of the use of the Hungarian language within the legal framework to all areas of social life. It promotes the preservation of our cultural values and the cultivation of our traditions. It ensures that our national holidays and historical anniversaries are commemorated.

The aim of the Alliance is to preserve and nurture the culture, national traditions and mother tongue of the Hungarian nationality living in the Sub-Carpathian region of Ukraine, to promote mother tongue education and culture, and to protect interests related to these goals. The KMKSZ aims to be a factor in both the political and cultural life of the Hungarian community in Sub-Carpathia and the country as a whole. It aims to stimulate and encourage all processes that serve the internal development of the Hungarian community, striving for results that focus on the long-term interests of the Hungarian community and create a future for our people that is measurable by European standards.

The Alliance seeks to establish relations with other Hungarian political and cultural organisations in the Carpathian Basin. The focus of its external relations is cooperation with the mother country. It considers it essential to be able to present its aspirations in international forums. As part of the Hungarian nation, it acts as a bridge between nationalities: it promotes bilateral, mutual good relations between peoples and helps to preserve and deepen national identity – everything that connects us in the spirit of a future European identity.

It supports greater border permeability and our country's integration into Europe.

One of the KMKSZ's key demands is the establishment of ethnic self-government. The aim of its cultural policy is to create a Hungarian cultural institutional system based on pan-Hungarian culture, which also includes a network of educational and public cultural institutions. It advocates the comprehensive development of Hungarian education in Sub-Carpathia and provides assistance in the establishment of church and private educational institutions.

The Alliance has more than 33,000 members, organised into five intermediate-level organisations (Beregszász Intermediate Organisation, Upper Tisza Region Intermediate Organisation, Munkács Intermediate Organisation, Nagyszőlős Intermediate Organisation, Ungvár Intermediate Organisation) and 111 grassroots organisations. The organisation is managed by a seven-member presidium and an 80-member council, while internal supervision is provided by a disciplinary and supervisory committee consisting of five members each. The presidium meets monthly and the council meets quarterly. The main decision-making body of the KMKSZ is the general assembly, which is convened once a year and in which the grassroots organisations participate through their proportionally elected delegates.

The Association organises dozens of cultural events every year. The number of events organised by the grassroots organisations exceeds 300 per year.