A delegation of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) visited Austria from 3 to 7 June 2019 as the first step in the preparation of a monitoring report. During the visit, which was one of the first in the framework of ECRI’s new 6th monitoring cycle, ECRI’s delegation gathered information on effective equality and access to rights; hate speech and hate-motivated violence; and integration and inclusion.
The delegation held meetings in Vienna, with representatives of the national and city authorities, independent bodies, international organisations as well as NGOs. The delegation visited also the capital of the Länder of Lower Austria, St. Pölten as well as Traiskirschen and met with the local authorities and civil society representatives.
Following this visit, ECRI will adopt a report to be published in 2020 in which it will make a new set of recommendations on measures to be taken by the authorities to address racism and intolerance in the country. Among these, two priority recommendations will be revisited in two years’ time as part of ECRI’s interim follow-up procedure.
In its 2015 report, ECRI highlighted, among other concerns, that the legal and institutional framework afforded to victims of racism and discrimination was fragmented; persons under subsidiary protection and in asylum procedure could not benefit from integration measures; the implementation of the Roma-Strategy lacked efficiency and that there was little data available on the living conditions of LGBT persons as well as on intolerance and discrimination against them.
GET THE LATEST UPDATES
