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Living in the Shadows : Navigating Austria's Evolving Asylum Policy Damaso Reyes World Policy Journal 2010 27: 87 DOI: 10.1162/wopj.2011.27.4.87

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Living in the Shadows

navigating austria’s evolving Asylum policy

DAMASO REYES

ienna—Hans Jörg Ulreich grew up in rural Austria near the Hungarian border, far from Vienna. The son of a farmer, V Ulreich left for university to pursue a degree in economics while his brother took over the family business. After getting his master’s degree in business administration, Ulreich worked at Vien- INSTITUTE na’s Bawag Bank for a month before switching to property develop- ment at a small firm called Lenikus. He worked there for seven years

POLICY before striking out on his own in 1999.

D Today, Ulreich’s company has 30 properties throughout Vienna, and Ulreich is one of the city’s most successful entrepreneurs.

WORL He should, given his resume, align himself with the Freedom Party of Austria [fpö], the country’s far right, anti-immigrant party.

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right Austrian People’s Party [övp]. thousands of asylum seekers from Hungary, Instead, Ulreich has become the face of Poland, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. the movement defending Austria’s tens “Somebody was a hero [if they] tried to leave of thousands of asylum seekers. He has their country and come to Austria,” says lent his name to their cause and, even Gerhard Muzak, an expert in asylum law and more surprisingly, he has put his business professor at the University of Vienna. interests on the line. In September, Ulreich Since then, much has changed in central held a press conference announcing that one and eastern Austria. The wall between of the apartment buildings his company was East and West came down. The Cold War renovating would become a safe haven for was shuffled into the dustbin of history. families about to be deported because their And, fast forward two decades, this year’s asylum claims had been denied. Ulreich hotly contested elections in Vienna featured a publicly stated that Austria’s president campaign slogan from the fpö that includes should be ashamed and all but challenged the phrase, “More Courage for our Viennese the authorities to call his bluff and deport Blood!” Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache his building’s tenants. later explained that the slogan referred to a In a city where society revolves around famous waltz, and was celebrating Vienna’s the lavish Opera Ball, where history, tra- multicultural history rather than reliving dition and—most importantly—author- the era in which hundreds of thousands ity reign supreme amid the cream of Eu- of Austrians lined the roads to welcome ropean wealth, this former farm boy from the troops of the Third Reich during the Eastern Austria is standing up to defend Anschluss. While Austrians have long been the country’s immigrants. Many are ask- proud of their historic role as a destination ing, why? But the real question is how for those fleeing oppression, the truth (much did Austria come to the point where such like the nation’s role during World War II) is a question was necessary? far more complex. In 1946, a decade before Chancellor A HISTORICAL REFUGE Raab declared Austria’s holy duty to be a “The granting of asylum has always been sanctuary, Felix Stika of the center left So- a holy duty for us, which we have honestly cial Democratic Party (spö), said Austrians fulfilled in spite of all sacrifices,” JuliusR aab, “must care and spend horrendous amounts Austria’s Federal Chancellor and member of money for these criminals’ camps... of the övp, said in 1959, at the founding These persons should be repatriated or de- of the Austrian committee for the year of ported, because they only cause us trouble.” refugees. While Austria is now at the center Oskar Helmer, a member of the slightly more of a rightward shift in Europe’s asylum moderate spö, took a more tactful approach, and immigration policy, this wasn’t always observing that “although it’s an honor to be the case. After the Second World War, seen as a country where notions of humanity the country’s borders with Hungary and haven’t died, we must appeal to the whole Czechoslovakia comprised 495 miles of the world that our poor country won’t cope with Iron Curtain. Austria accepted hundreds of the heavy burdens when left alone.”

Damaso Reyes is an international journalist and photographer who has spent three months in Austria studying its asylum policies under a Ford Foundation grant.

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Jörg Ulreich, left, defends Austria’s asylum seekers, including Dorentina and Daniella Komani (pictured, bottom right). Top right: an FPÖ ad that reads “Because I believe in you.”

Half a century later, the asylum de- ly, Ulreich’s demeanor changes and his voice bate still hangs on Stika and Helmer’s becomes even softer, barely a whisper. “No sentiments. Anti-immigration arguments one wanted to get involved. They hid behind either reference crime rates or the econo- the law. This made me very angry.” my—though Austria is among Europe’s Ulreich is proud that his business suc- wealthiest nations. cess stems from the fact that everyone knows “It’s a shame for our rich country to throw he always keeps his word, and he promised out children who speak like us,” Ulreich his son he would do something. After more says. He is sitting in a building he owns—an than a decade of battling steely bureau- empty restaurant under renovation, around crats in city government, Ulreich was fed the corner from the apartment block where up with a culture that, he says, is unduly he houses asylum seekers. He describes him- deferential to authority. The Kosovo boy’s self as fairly apolitical, never joining so much case surfaced the developer’s long-felt dis- as a soccer club let alone a political party. enchantment and moved him to action. What spurred him to action was the deportation of his son’s young friend, a nine-year- A NEW ENEMY old boy whose family was from Kosovo. “He During the reign of the Soviet Union, reyes was as good as all his classmates,” Ulreich Austria had defined itself as a frontline recalls. “He spoke perfect German. I didn’t opponent of communism which, unlike ama d so even know he was a refugee.” Ever so slight- America, lived right next door. After the

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fall of communism, with the enemy gone, asylum cases, which sometimes stretch politicians of all stripes cast about for a to ten years. But to understand Austria’s replacement. Jörg Haider had movie-star current policy, it is essential first to un- good looks and the political acumen to derstand Dublin. match. He and his Austrian Freedom Par- In 2003, the EU passed the Dublin ty [fpö] rose to prominence in the early Regulation, legislation concerning asy- 1990s on a wave of anti-immigrant sen- lum seekers—specifically, who should timent. During his campaign in 1993, deal with them. Under the new regula- Haider released a 12-point “Austria First” tion, passed just before a group of East plan that put a stop to all immigration and European nations joined the EU, the first added a constitutional amendment affirm- country asylum seekers enter is responsible ing that Austria was no longer a country for their asylum applications—a boon to that welcomed, or even accepted, immi- Austria. As a country surrounded by oth- grants. It was a shocking move at the time, er EU members, Austria can only receive and though it didn’t pass, many of Haid- refugees that first pass through another na- er’s ideas have entered the mainstream. tion. If proven, then the refugee would be “We needed a new enemy because sent back to Greece, Slovakia or Hunga- communism no longer existed,” says ry—countries whose asylum policies make Anny Knapp, director of Asylum Coor- Austria look like Club Med. dination, an umbrella group for organiza- “Dublin can only work if we have a tions working with asylum seekers. She harmonized asylum area all over Europe, began her work more than 20 years ago, so that it really doesn’t make a difference just as the rightward shift in Austrian whether the person is processed in Greece, politics gained momentum. Like many Italy, Spain, Austria or Sweden, because Austrians, she stresses the mentality of the result will always be the same,” says her fellow citizens, and how that directly Christoph Pinter, head of the legal unit of informs the country’s politics and out- the United Nations High Commission on look. “People feel like there is no secu- Refugees [unhcr]. “We all know that this rity,” says Knapp. “Despite the fact that is not the case. We are far away from hav- crime in Austria is very low people feel ing this perfect system and therefore Dub- that around the next corner there will be lin in itself is not fair.” While exceedingly a robbery. There is this kind of insecurity tactful, Pinter is a very precise man and that leads to looking for someone who is quite clear regarding what his organiza- guilty for all your problems.” She pauses tion thinks about Dublin and the way it is and frowns, unhappy with the English being used by Austria. Even before estab- translation for the German word. lishing the legitimacy of a claim, Austrian “Scapegoat?” authorities can use the Dublin accord to “Ah yes,” she smiles. deport a refugee. Pinter questions the political motivation behind the reduction of WHAT’S wrong WITH DUBLIN asylum applications. “We’re talking about Seven major revisions of Austrian legisla- numbers that shouldn’t be a problem for a tion in the last decade have complicated country like Austria.” the country’s asylum law. The ostensible The unhcr is not the only organiza- goal has been to speed up the review of tion skeptical of the Dublin system and

90 WORLD POLICY JOURNAL Downloaded from wpj.sagepub.com by guest on March 22, 2012 LIVING IN THE SHADOWS the way Austria uses it. “The Dublin half of those currently applying would re- agreement is a completely useless and in- ceive asylum. But during the Cold War, human ping-pong game with human be- Austria wasn’t the primary destination for ings,” says Heinz Patzel, head of Amnesty most refugees because it was still too geo- International Austria. Reed thin with a graphically close to the horrors they had professorial air, Patzel has spent years bat- just fled, and there were stories of refu- tling an asylum system which he says has gees kidnapped and returned. However, as become increasingly restrictive. But the more refugees began to stay, local voices problem isn’t simply a legal one. “What is increasingly called for limiting asylum. missing in Austria is a qualified migration Ironically, many of today’s asylum seekers policy. There should be options presented also think of Austria as more of a way sta- by politicians for the people to select the tion than a home, kind of migration policy they want in a but that’s because Francis country like Austria. If I look at the situ- the environment has described how ation in 2010,” Patzel continues, “I really become so hostile. wonder where have we gone to? What has he felt about happened to the humanity of Europe?” escape DANGER his life in In the living room of a third-floor The ready smile austria. “i’m apartment in one of Vienna’s residential is still there when districts, Wolf Szymanski sits fidgeting I stumble upon outside the on a sofa, lying back then leaning forward. Francis, a former prison but i The walls are dotted with wood cut prints asylum seeker from of historical Austria, a small brass chan- Nigeria. I first en- still experience delier hangs from the ceiling. Szymanski countered him in prison all once held the lofty title of director general 2008, while wait- around me” of asylum, migration and integration af- ing at a bus stop fairs in Austria. Forced out after a change in one of Vienna’s far western districts. of government because he is a well-known I am genuinely surprised to see him Social Democrat, Szymanski had a front- here. Earlier in the year, Francis was row seat to Austria’s changing asylum deported from Austria after being ar- policies. He recalls a family of Romanians rested at the airport on his way back to approaching him in the early 1980s, when Spain, where he had married and gained he was still working in Vienna’s police legal residence. There should have been department. They told him they wanted no problem for him to travel anywhere asylum and he accompanied them to the in Europe, yet the Austrian authorities proper office. W“ hen they got there, the seized his Spanish residency papers, held policeman said, ‘Welcome to the free him for two weeks, then sent him back west,’” he says, pausing for a brief chuck- to Nigeria. He was stuck there for five le. “It’s a thing unimaginable these days, months as he waited for the Spanish au- a policeman saying to an asylum seeker thorities to investigate his story and is- ‘Welcome to Austria.’” sue him new documents. When he was If the current government were to ap- finally allowed to return to Spain, Fran- ply the criteria in place during the Cold cis was banned from entering Austria for War, Szyanski is confident that at least three years. He has only returned this

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time to gather some personal belongings has worked for the past three years inside and collect some money owed to him. Vienna’s detention centers for a charity He is staying with a friend in a nearby group under contract to the Austrian gov- studio apartment. The walls are a powder ernment. As someone working on the in- blue and discs of Nigerian films like S“ is- side, she is as baffled by the system as those ter’s Betrayal” sit on the coffee table next who are subject to it. Elena, anonymous to a Bible bookmarked with lottery tickets. because she is not authorized by her orga- Francis leans back on the bed and recounts nization to speak up, does not know why the past few months. He says he was de- many of her patients are being detained. tained by authorities who knew “no one “People haven’t done anything; they come would come after them.” Francis’s arrest was to Austria and want asylum,” she says soft- his fourth since he first came toA ustria, in ly, shaking her head. “They don’t know 2007, seeking asylum. His nearly year-long why they are in prison. And some of them odyssey took him across the Sahara. As soon stay [in detention] a very long time.” as he arrived, he was held for five months Over the past few years, hunger strikes while authorities tried to decide whether have caused a number of deaths, leading to send him packing under the Dublin authorities to establish a highly regulated Regulation. In his fourth month, he went system. If you want to go on a hunger on a hunger strike—a disturbing, though strike, you must sign a form saying that rising, trend in Austria’s detention centers, you understand the risks. Each day, vi- and a device that asylum seekers impris- tals are checked to make sure the prisoner oned for long stretches are using to get out. hasn’t starved too long. When a prisoner’s He lost more than 30 pounds over 16 days vital signs fall below a certain point, they before he was released. “I tried it because it are released—not to a hospital, but onto was the only means of my release,” he says. the street, regardless of whether they have It is almost impossible to challenge deten- any form of support. tion without legal assistance—a luxury few “They see it as their last chance to get detainees can afford. out,” says Elena. “They stay weeks and When the discussion turns to con- weeks and weeks in a small room with the ditions in Spain, his face immediately same policeman every day, and they can’t brightens. “Being in Spain is like you are do anything,” she adds. Sometimes refu- home. It means being well treated. Spain gees are forced to stay in rooms where no is a place to stay and to live, hoping that one else speaks their language. Without your future and tomorrow will be assured- knowing when or if they will be released, ly better.” He feels the Spanish treat him some still resort to the drastic, potentially like a citizen—a far cry from what he en- lethal measure of voluntary starvation. dured in Austria, a country he would never have entered if he were to do it all over beyond the walls again. Back in 2008, Francis had described As Francis suggests, prison for asylum how he felt about his life in Austria at the seekers extends beyond the walls of Aus- time. “I’m outside the prison but I still ex- tria’s detention facilities. Those seeking perience prison all around me.” asylum are legally forbidden to work—a These kinds of psychological effects situation that often continues for many worry Elena, a 35-year-old doctor who years—leaving them totally dependent on

92 WORLD POLICY JOURNAL Downloaded from wpj.sagepub.com by guest on March 22, 2012 LIVING IN THE SHADOWS the state. While a native Austrian on wel- 1987 to work at the UN Industrial De- fare receives more than €900 a month, an velopment Organization after getting his asylum seeker is granted €302. If a refugee Ph.D. in economics. He has lived in Aus- takes advantage of government housing, tria ever since, and has a unique perspec- then the state provides them with even less tive as a highly educated immigrant from money. Without work, many asylum seek- the developing world. Amaizo believes ers turn to the black market, taking jobs that the migration policies of Austria and that no one else will for far less money and much of Western Europe are economi- no legal protection. cally flawed. Falling “They hardly have a chance to access birthrates make it clear “ The law has the labor market,” unhcr’s Pinter says. to him, and many other He accepts that certain limitations protect economists, that devel- become so local workers, but he argues that fully and oped European nations complicated permanently excluding people while their will have to import la- that not even asylum cases are decided is not only unfair bor if they are to main- to refugees, but also detrimental to Aus- tain high standards of i know all tria. “This would be a win-win situation living. “Austria cannot the rules and because they could earn money and they live without foreigners,” tricks. no one wouldn’t have to rely on social assistance he says simply. “They during their asylum procedure.” cannot avoid making understands Labor has concerned Austrians for de- foreigners a part of the it fully” cades. The country’s powerful unions, rath- creation of value and er than aligning against the government, wealth.” Facing his own challenges in actually helped write many of the labor Austrian society, Amaizo started his own regulations, including the 2004 statute think tank a few years ago after finding it which prevents asylum seekers from work- difficult to secure an appointment at an ing in all but seasonal jobs, like agriculture. Austrian university. Refugees can also be self-employed, which Whatever the impact on the economy, has led to the perverse situation that one of Austria’s asylum policy is sending a pow- the few legal jobs for an asylum seeker is erful message to those who would come prostitution. Colonel Rudolf Gollia, of the here. The number of asylum applications Austrian Interior Ministry, told me that in 2009 was less than half of the number many of the smaller crimes asylum seek- in 2002. The acceptance rate of asylum ers are charged with—petty theft, riding applications has dropped precipitously as the metro without a ticket—stem from the well, partly due to tougher Dublin en- fact that they are not allowed to work, and forcement and a push by government lead- the money received from the state is lim- ers to shrink the number of asylum seekers ited. I asked if the ministry believed that entering the country. From 2004 through Austria’s laws should be changed to allow 2007 the acceptance rate ranged from 40 asylum seekers better access to the labor percent to 50 percent; last year it dropped market. “I can give you no answer to this to less than 20 percent. The policy of the question,” Gollia replied. government as expressed by its political Yves Ekoue Amaizo first came to leaders is to control and curb asylum at Austria from Togo in 1967, returning in the source—namely, the border.

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POINT OF NO RETURN is “a sign that asylum seekers also accept If you get a parking ticket in Austria you the system.” Gollia points out that Austria can appeal to the administrative high court. has one of the highest percentages of refu- The same holds for a wage dispute or civ- gees in Europe per capita. What should il problems. In 2008, asylum seekers lost exist to insure fairness is a standardized their appellate rights. As part of the now system throughout the EU. “Of course,” yearly revision to the asylum process, this Gollia says, “Standardizing the European appeal, known locally as the third instance, asylum system is still in progress. It is an was eliminated to streamline the process. important goal. Without a system of al- Currently, asylum cases are heard by the location, a few countries have to cope with Bundesasylamt, a department of the inte- a large amount of asylum seekers.” And rior ministry that determines the validity Austria is undoubtedly one such nation. of the person’s claim and investigates why Wearing a black head scarf and a blue they left their country. If their case is de- and white dress, Qamarey Cisman is ac- nied, which it often is, one used to be able companied by her eight-year-old twins, to appeal to the asylum court. Meant to be a son and daughter, when she arrives at an independent body, its members were the makeshift offices ofP urple Sheep, a still appointed by the government. Before small organization that helps asylum seek- the appeal to the administrative high court ers. Lorenz describes the Dublin process was abolished, as many as 20 percent of the as akin to sending people across Europe asylum court’s decisions were overturned. like parcels. Qamarey’s own experience Now, those petitioners have no recourse. is proof. Since leaving her native Soma- “It’s clear and obvious legal discrimi- lia in 1998, she passed through Ethiopia nation,” Amnesty International’s Patzelt and Sudan, before arriving in Libya. Like says of the abolition of the right to pe- many before her, she traveled by boat to tition. Nadja Lorenz, a lawyer who has Italy. She had good reason to run. Two of been working in this field for more than her six children, along with her husband, 20 years, says that “the law has become were killed in Somalia. She was pregnant so complicated that not even I know all when she entered Sudan, and gave birth to the rules and tricks. No one understands twins. When Qamarey finally arrived in it fully. Instead of changing the system Italy she thought she had reached freedom. in a way that resolves the problem at its If Austria has a strict asylum policy at roots…they just said ‘Let’s drop the ad- least it is, in the words of unhcr’s Pinter, ministrative high court.’ The signal is, well-developed. Italy, on the other hand, ‘Let’s treat asylum seekers legally worse is rather hands off. Qamarey was forced to than normal people.’” The root cause of live on the streets for more than a year. She this attitude is found deep within the stayed with a friend in Finland for several Austrian mentality, Lorenz explains. months so she and her children wouldn’t “Everything is very traditional,” she says. have to spend the winter homeless. She “Everything is neat and nice and fine, and then moved to Sweden where she was de- people don’t want that to change.” ported back to Italy. In a desperate bid to Colonel Gollia’s response? If the sys- find some kind of home, she crossed the tem wasn’t fair, people wouldn’t come border to Austria, nine years after she had here. That people come to Austria, he says, left Somalia. Immediately, she was identi-

94 WORLD POLICY JOURNAL Downloaded from wpj.sagepub.com by guest on March 22, 2012 LIVING IN THE SHADOWS fied as a Dublin case but was not deported. an important litmus test for Austrians to The asylum court told her that although judge foreigners. But that was of little she was clearly a Dublin case she could consequence. Their asylum application make an asylum claim in Austria. Then, was denied, so they were sent back to a this year, the ministry reversed its opinion, home that no longer exists. After the press and told her she must leave—more than conference, at a table in the back, Ulreich three years after she arrived. talks about what happened. His jaw is set “If they were planning on bringing me and his soft tone is even quieter than it was back to Italy, why didn’t they do it very in a meeting two weeks ago. quickly?” she asks. On the table before “I couldn’t believe it. I never expected her is the ubiquitous sheaf of folded docu- the police to come so close to the Viennese ments that almost every asylum seeker car- election,” he says of the raid, which came ries. She points to a document that grants less than a week before local elections. The permission for her to stay and another tell- party of the Interior Minister, which or- ing her she must leave. Since she arrived, dered the deportation, ended up losing her twins have been attending school and seats to the far right wing fpö. Ulreich speak fluent German. As difficult as things charges that the raid was a move by the have been for her in Austria, Italy’s rough more centrist övp to defend itself against streets will be worse. “I was traumatized the smaller, more radical party. In hind- in my own country, so I thought human sight, the action was ineffective. rights would be respected here.” “They could only divide this family if there was a serious danger to our coun- “I THINK THEY WILL LISTEN” try,” Ulreich insists. “Are these eight- Hans Jörg Ulreich sits silently at a small year-old kids a danger for our country? table during a press conference in his fa- Nobody believes this.” It is clear how vorite gutted restaurant where he often shaken the developer is—a family under receives visitors. Ulreich is listening to his protection has been ripped from their a staff member from Purple Sheep de- new home, one they had come to because scribe yesterday’s raid on the organization. he said they would be safe. “They gain At around six o’clock, armed police of- nothing,” he says when asked whose in- ficers, one with a rifle, came into his safe terests had been served by the deporta- haven to deport a Kosovar family who had tion. “They lose people who pay taxes. been part of his campaign. August Ko- They lose kids; we educate them and then mani and his twin eight-year-old daugh- we kick them out of the country. They’re ters Dorentina and Daniella were taken crazy, we have too few kids in this coun- into detention before being flown back to try, but we kick them out because the In- Kosovo. Their mother, already fragile from terior Minster wants to improve her de- the stress of being told that they faced deportation quota. It’s ridiculous.” portation, had a nervous breakdown and The question hangs in the air like ciga- had to be hospitalized. Her husband and rette smoke in a Viennese cafe. “I’m not daughters were sent back without her. afraid of our politicians. I’m not afraid of our The family had been in Austria for six Rambo policemen, because I think what we years—most of the young girls’ lives. The do is right. We show the Austrian popula- children speak perfect German, which is tion what is going on in this country.” l

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