Parallel Report By the Forum on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Austria 5th State Report of the Austrian Republic To the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) Vienna, August 2013 1 Imprint Contributing Organizations Alternative and Green Trade Union AUGE Association of the Active Unemployed Asylum Coordination Austrian Armutskonferenz – Austrian Network against Poverty and Social Exclusion Austrian National Council of Disabled Persons (ÖAR) Austrian Students´ Association FIAN Austria National Alliance of Organizations working for the Homeless (BAWO) National Association of Social Workers (OBDS) National Coalition for the Rights of the Child NGO Forum CEDAW in Austria „Women: Rights now!“ Orientexpress – Women´s counselling centre Stay visible – Organization of people affected by poverty Co-Ordination Group Elisabeth Sterzinger (FIAN Austria) Gaby Skokan (FIAN Austria,Stay Visible) Gertrude Klaffenböck (FIAN) Martin Mair (Active Unemployed) Eringard Kaufmann (OBDS) Christine Wurzinger (ÖAR) Christina Meierschitz (ÖAR) Rosy Weiss (NGO Forum CEDAW in Austria „Women: Rights now!“) Contact FIAN Österreich, Schwarzspanierstrasse 15/3/1 1090 Wien Telefon: 01/ 2350239 Mail: [email protected] Web: www.fian.at/ WSK Rechte Forum Editorial Team Gaby Skokan, Rosy Weiss, Elisabeth Sterzinger, Martin Schenk, Angelika Hoffmann, Eringard Kaufmann, Gertrude Klaffenböck, Judith Stummer-Kolonovits, Caroline Paar, Gundi Dick, Philipp Salzmann, Ana Maria Suárez Franco Layout Philipp Salzmann 0 Preface: The WSK Forum Austria was first called by FIAN Austria in May 2012 to invite organisations from the fields of social affairs, anti-racism and human rights to participate in work on the parallel report to the UN WSK committee. Fortunately, mainly Austrian umbrella organisations are represented in the WSK Forum. Even though the coordination meetings and the work on the report took place in Vienna, the contents of the report apply to the whole of Austria through the nationwide networks of the member organisations. The process started in autumn with two workshops in October and December. On these occasions, representatives of various organisations were informed about the content of the government’s report, the investigation procedure and the reporting guidelines of the CESCR, as well as about other already successful processes of parallel reporting. In December, working groups had been constituted. They started to collect data and facts around the articles of the covenant and began to write contributions. During the monthly meetings of the coordination group, the topics were reflected upon and different aspects of human rights were discussed. The report is mainly structured by the articles and the questions of the guidelines. Numbers beside of the headline of a paragraph correspond with the respective question in the reporting guidelines. Cross-cutting themes in all articles represent the fragmentation of competences between the federal governments and national government, the poor realization of equality between women and men, as well as the discrimination of people with disabilities, asylum seekers and migrants. The experience, that, due to the economic crisis, there is less space for democratic processes, accompanied all phases of the project. Despite numerous applications by FIAN and other Organisations forming part of the Forum ESC Rights for subsidies for the preparation of the report, it was not possible to get financial support by relevant ministries. Applications for subsidies to the large humanitarian organizations of the country remained unsuccessful as well. Though the conveners to the report preparation invited them, several organisations could not take part due to lack of staff capacity, others provided information on their work fields but wanted to remain anonymous. Disclaimer of Liability: The organisations of the Forum ESCR supported the preparation of the articles and requests within this report according to their expertise and their association’s goals. The common goal is to publish a parallel report from a civil society perspective. Naturally, not every single opinion or request of each of the organisations can be supported by all of them. A list of the organisations contributing to each chapter can be found at the end of the report. 0 List of organisations that provided information to the chapters of this report. Chapter 1: Abstract: All organizations corresponding to chapters and articles Chapter 2: General Protection of HR in Austria: Platform “Human Rights now”, National Association of Social Workers (OBDS) Chapter 3: Article 3: NGO Forum CEDAW in Austria „Women: Rights now!“ Chapter 4: Article 6: Alternative and Green Trade Union AUGE, Association of the Active Unemployed Chapter 5: Article 7: Alternative and Green Trade Union AUGE, Asylum Coordination, Association of the Active Unemployed, NGO Forum CEDAW in Austria „Women: Rights now!“ Chapter 6: Article 9: Association of the Active Unemployed, Austrian Armutskonferenz – Austrian Network against Poverty and Social Exclusion, Asylum Coordination, National Association of Social Workers (OBDS) Chapter 7: Article 10: Orientexpress – Women´s couselling centre, Asylum Coordination, Austrian National Council of Disabled Persons (ÖAR), Chapter 8: Article 11: FIAN Austria, Association of the Active Unemployed, Asylum Coordination, National Alliance of Organizations working for the Homeless (BAWO), Stay visible – Organization of people affected by poverty Chapter 9: Article 12: National Coalition for the Rights of the Child, Austrian National Council of Disabled Persons (ÖAR), Asylum Coordination, NGO Forum CEDAW in Austria „Women: Rights now!“, Alternative and Green Trade Union AUGE , FIAN Chapter 10: Article 13: Austrian National Council of Disabled Persons (ÖAR), Austrian Armutskonferenz – Austrian Network against Poverty and Social Exclusion, Asylum Coordination, Austrian Students´ Association Chapter 11: Conclusions: FIAN agreed by the Forum ESC Rights Acknowledgment: The report in hand could only be finished due to the exceptional commitment of the organisations taking part. Because of the scarce financial resources, numerous voluntary working hours were contributed to the project. Marianne Schulze, Elisabeth Schaffelhofer García-Marquez and Martin Schenk supported as consultants with their expertise out of other processes of parallel reporting and advocacy work against poverty. Many Thanks! That the project did not fail mid-way is primarily due to the members and contributors of FIAN Austria, who provided the core funding! Our special thanks go to the humanitarian aid organisation “Evangelische DIAKONIE”, who was the only one who provided financial support to our project. 1 Table of contents 1 Abstract _____________________________________________________________ 1 2 General: Protection of Human Rights in Austria _______________________________ 9 2.1 Structural Human Rights Deficits _____________________________________________ 9 2.2 Effects of Structural Human Rights Deficits ____________________________________ 11 3 Article 3: Equality of men and women _____________________________________ 14 3.1 Gender pay gap – an invariable _____________________________________________ 14 3.2 Poor promotion prospects for women – the glass ceiling _________________________ 14 3.3 Atypical employment – typical for women _____________________________________ 15 3.4 Working poor – Poverty despite employment __________________________________ 16 3.5 Child care facilities - a constant shortage _____________________________________ 17 3.6 Unemployment – Continuation of the discrimination _____________________________ 17 3.7 In law and in fact ________________________________________________________ 17 3.8 Female poverty in Austria _________________________________________________ 18 3.9 Retirement pension of women – overwhelmingly low ____________________________ 19 3.10 Female migrants – multiply discriminated _____________________________________ 19 3.11 Needs-based minimum benefit – a measure against poverty? _____________________ 20 3.12 Women with a disability ___________________________________________________ 21 3.13 Demands ______________________________________________________________ 22 4 Article 6 Right to Work _________________________________________________ 23 4.1 Successful Employment Policy or Cosmetic Treatment on Statistics? (Nr 15 a) ____ 23 4.2 Reintegration of Long-Term Unemployed (Nr 15 b)______________________________ 27 4.3 Informal Economy, Moonlighting (Nr 16) ______________________________________ 27 4.4 Dismissals (Nr 17) _______________________________________________________ 27 4.5 Further Education and Training Programs of the Public Employment Service (Nr 18) ___ 28 4.6 Demands ______________________________________________________________ 29 5 Article 7 Right to fair and favourable working conditions _______________________ 30 5.1 Obligatory minimum salary and its coverage (Nr 19) _____________________________ 30 Collective agreements _____________________________________________________ 30 5.2 Integrational measures (Nr 15 b) ____________________________________________ 30 5.3 Precarious jobs (Nr 20) ___________________________________________________ 32 Low wages ______________________________________________________________ 33 Compensator ____________________________________________________________ 33 5.4 Compatibility of job and family (Nr 20) ________________________________________ 33 5.5 Equal pay- Gap – women