A delegation of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) visited Austria from 19 to 23 May 2025 as the first step in the preparation of a monitoring report. The visit was preceded by online meetings on 12 and 14 May 2025. During the visit, which was carried out within the framework of ECRI’s seventh country monitoring cycle, ECRI’s delegation gathered information on preventing and combating hate speech and hate crime and ensuring equal treatment and inclusion in education and healthcare.

The delegation met with representatives of the Federal Government, including relevant agencies and services operating under various ministries, and with public prosecutors, as well as with representatives of the following institutions: the provincial-level governments, equality bodies and patient advocacy offices. It also held meetings with the Austrian National Public Health Institute, the Federal Ombud for Equal Treatment, the Federal Commission for Equal Treatment and the Austrian Ombudsman Board.

During online meetings and in the course of the visit to Austria, ECRI’s delegation met civil society actors representing groups of concern to ECRI. Moreover, the members of the delegation went to Graz, capital of the province of Styria, where they visited a primary school, the provincial-level patient advocacy office, and the ombuds office for children and youth, as well as the Anti-Discrimination Office, including the Extremism Prevention Centre, and held meetings with other civil society actors.

Following this visit, ECRI will adopt a report 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. The implementation of two priority recommendations will be reviewed after 18 months from the publication of the report as part of ECRI’s interim follow-up procedure.

In its 2020 report on Austria, among other recommendations, ECRI recommended that intersex children’s right to physical integrity and bodily autonomy be effectively protected and that medically unnecessary “sex normalising” surgery and other treatments be prohibited until such time as the child is able to participate in the decision about them, based on the right to self-determination and on the principle of free and informed consent.

It also recommended that the Austrian authorities make legislative amendments, both at federal and provincial level as necessary, with a view to ensuring accessible and effective general anti-discrimination legislation covering all grounds and all areas, in line with its General Policy Recommendation No. 7 on national legislation to combat racism and racial discrimination.

For more information on previous ECRI reports on Austria, please visit ECRI’s country monitoring page.