Fourth Report Submitted by Austria Pursuant to Article 25, Paragraph 2 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
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Strasbourg, 14 January 2016 ACFC/SR/IV(2016)001 Fourth Report submitted by Austria pursuant to Article 25, paragraph 2 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (Received on 14 January 2016) 4th Report by the Republic of Austria pursuant to Article 25 (2) of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities Vienna, September 2015 Publisher’ information: Media owner, publisher and editor: Federal Chancellery, Constitutional Service Ballhausplatz 2, 1014 Vienna, Austria Project managed by Department V/6 Vienna, 2015 Copyright and liability: Copies of excerpts only permitted when indicating the source. All other rights reserved. Table of Contents Table of Contents Introduction .............................................................................................. 8 I Implementation of the Framework Convention ............................... 9 II Concerning the immediate actions recommended by the Committee of Ministers ................................................................... 10 II.1 First recommended immediate action – amending the National Minorities Act 10 II.2 Second recommended immediate action – linguistic rights and implementation of the relevant Constitutional Court decisions ...........................12 II.3 Third recommended immediate action – national minorities’ advisory councils.............................................................................................................14 III As to the individual articles ............................................................ 16 III.1 Article 1.............................................................................................................16 III.2 Article 2.............................................................................................................17 III.3 Article 3.............................................................................................................17 III.3.1Scope of application of the Framework Convention in Austria .............................. 18 III.3.2Freedom to declare one’s association with a national minority ............................. 20 Anonymous survey on mother tongue ......................................................................... 21 National censuses and register censuses ................................................................... 22 III.3.3Individual rights and collective rights ................................................................... 22 III.4 Article 4.............................................................................................................23 III.4.1Principle of equality and ban on discrimination .................................................... 23 III.4.2Constitutional provision on the targeted objective to protect the national minorities ........................................................................................................ 26 III.4.3Legal protection by the courts ............................................................................. 26 III.4.4Review of maladministration by the Ombudspersons Office ................................ 27 III.4.5Structure of the equal treatment legislation in Austria .......................................... 27 The Federal Equal Treatment Ombudspersons Office ................................................. 29 The Equal Treatment Commission .............................................................................. 31 III.4.6Equal treatment legislation of the Federal Province of Vienna ............................. 32 III.4.7Awareness-raising for legislation on equal treatment ........................................... 33 Awareness-raising measures in Vienna ...................................................................... 35 Awareness-raising measures for the judiciary and the police........................................ 35 III.4.8Factual equality .................................................................................................. 36 Data collection ........................................................................................................... 37 4th State Report - Austria 3 Table of Contents The situation of the Roma .......................................................................................... 37 III.5 Article 5.............................................................................................................41 III.5.1Promotional funding by the Federal Government for the national minorities ......... 42 Procedure for obtaining funding from the Federal Chancellery ..................................... 43 III.5.2Regional support for the national minorities ......................................................... 48 III.6 Article 6.............................................................................................................50 III.6.1Situation in Carinthia .......................................................................................... 50 Dialogue Forum ......................................................................................................... 50 The Carinthian National Minority Office ....................................................................... 51 III.6.2Penal provisions against racism and intolerance ................................................. 52 Judicial penal provisions............................................................................................. 53 Administrative penal provisions................................................................................... 55 Data collected by the judiciary .................................................................................... 56 III.6.3Awareness-raising and anti-discrimination training .............................................. 57 Awareness-raising and anti-discrimination training for the judiciary including the penitentiary system .................................................................................................... 57 Awareness-raising and anti-discrimination training of the police ................................... 63 Human-rights education and political education at schools........................................... 64 Human-rights education and political education for adults ............................................ 65 Presentation in the media ........................................................................................... 65 III.6.4Federal Bureau of Anti-Corruption ....................................................................... 69 III.6.5The Ombudspersons Office as a human-rights institution .................................... 69 III.6.6Strategies to promote integration and the relations between population groups ............................................................................................................ 70 National Action Plan for Integration ............................................................................. 70 National Action Plan for Human Rights and sectoral national action plans .................... 71 Roma integration strategy .......................................................................................... 72 Diversity management in Vienna ................................................................................ 72 Styrian Co-Existence Charter ..................................................................................... 72 III.6.7Special measures to promote a spirit of tolerance and intercultural dialogue ........ 73 Poster campaign in Vienna against racism and xenophobia ......................................... 73 Campaign “Together:Austria” ...................................................................................... 73 Roma minority ........................................................................................................... 73 Slovene minority ........................................................................................................ 74 III.7 Article 7.............................................................................................................75 III.8 Article 8.............................................................................................................75 III.9 Article 9.............................................................................................................76 III.9.1The range of services offered by the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) ............................................................................................................. 77 ORF radio broadcasts ................................................................................................ 77 ORF television broadcasts ......................................................................................... 79 Internet ...................................................................................................................... 81 Teletext ...................................................................................................................... 81 III.9.2Private radio station Agora and cooperation between ORF and Agora ................. 82 Slovene-language radio broadcasts for Styria.............................................................. 82 III.9.3Audio-visual media services ............................................................................... 83 III.9.4Promotional funding for private radio stations ...................................................... 83 III.9.5National minority representative on the Audience Council of