To Austrian Federal Chancellor Werner Faymann Ballhausplatz 2 1014 Vienna, Austria [email protected] To Interior Minister of Austria Mag.a Johanna Mikl-Leitner Bundesministerium für Inneres Herrengasse 7 1014 Vienna, Austria [email protected] Heidelberg, 22.01.2013 Dear Mr Faymann, I am writing to you in the name of FIAN International, a human rights organisation advocating for the human right to adequate food, headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany. FIAN works in more than 20 countries worldwide through its national sections, coordinations and chapters. FIAN also exercises consultative status to the Economic Council of the United Nations through permanent representation in Geneva. In Austria, FIAN is represented by a national section in Vienna. Recently, FIAN has received alarming information about the devastating living conditions of asylum seekers and refugees in Austria. Refugee activists from the Traiskirchen and other shelters marched to Vienna on 24 November 2012, to demand improved conditions for asylum seekers and refugees. Activists set up an open and public refugee protest camp in Sigmund-Freud Park to raise awareness about the poor living conditions of refugees and asylum seekers and to demand respect and fulfilment of their basic human rights. Some asylum seekers and refugees decided to seek shelter in the nearby Votivkirche. Soon thereafter they began a hunger strike. A few days later, on 28 December 2012 the protest camp in Sigmund Freud Park was brutally evicted by the police. According to the information received, the majority of the 63 refugees in the Votivkirche are from Pakistan, with the remainder being comprised of people from Bangladesh, Somalia, Afghanistan, Algeria and Morocco. As of 21 January, 45 of the protesters had been on hunger strike for as long as 30 days. The refugees view continuing their hunger strike as a last resort to bring attention to their situation through non-violent means. It is alarming that refugees in Austria, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, must resort to hunger strikes to draw the attention of the responsible Austrian authorities and international human rights bodies. We are seriously concerned that basic duties under Article 13 and 14 of the Universal declaration of human rights are not being met by the Austrian State. Many of the Pakistani refugees have reason to fear for their lives if they were sent back to their home country. According to their reports many come from the northwest region of the country, a region for which the Austrian Foreign Ministry has previously issued specific travel warnings about, namely the areas of Beluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.i. Four activists from the refugee camp have been in Austrian custody since 12 January 2013, pending deportation (Schubhaft) back to Pakistan, or to Hungary under the Dublin II regulation,ii a practice which has been heavily criticized by the UNHCR on numerous occasions.iii For many years, NGOs have criticized Austrian asylum laws which deal with the treatment and living situation of asylum seekers in Austria.iv The current national legislation does not enable asylum seekers to maintain an adequate standard of living. The concluding observations of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the state party report from Austria mentioned their concern in January 2006: “The Committee is concerned about reports that social assistance benefits provided to asylum-seekers are often considerably lower than those received by citizens of the State party.” The Committee called on the state party “to ensure that adequate social support is provided to asylum-seekers throughout their asylum proceedings.”v This recommendation should be immediately implemented by the Austrian State, avoiding any type of discrimination derived from their nationality On the specific aspect of our institutional human rights mandate we have analyzed the situation as following: Regarding adequacy of food, we have been informed that food and accommodation in hostels provided to asylum seekers and refugees by the government are insufficient and inadequate for the enjoyment of their right to adequate food and nutrition. Complaints comprise delivery of poor-quality food, lack of facilities that would allow them to cook for themselves, and sometimes even the lack of possibilities to eat their meals in private.vi Regarding accessibility and availability of food, neither physical nor economic access to adequate food is guaranteed to the asylum seekers and refugees: Hostels of asylum seekers and refugees are often placed in remote rural areas, which makes it impossible for them to find adequate foodstuff to their cultural preferences in nearby places. Hence physical access to adequate food in many cases is not guaranteed. In basic social support schemes for asylum seekers and refugees, they receive too little money for making choices and have a self determined provision of food. On the other hand they are excluded from labor market or self-employed work by legal means and consequently do not have the possibility to earn income to feed - and provide for - themselves. States have the obligations to respect, protect and fulfill adequacy, sustainability, access and availability of the right to adequate food. Therefore taking into account the former mentioned information it is evident that the Austrian state is not complying with its obligation to fulfill the human right to adequate food assumed under Article 11 of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as interpreted in the General Comment 12 of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Moreover the different treatment that asylum seekers and refugees are receiving in the realization of their right to adequate food, with regard to other social groups, due to their migratory situation can be identified as a clear non fulfillment of Austria´s obligation to not discriminate any population group in their access to their right to food and nutrition. 2 FIAN supports the main demands of the refugee camp of December 18th,vii 2012, like basic support (Grundversorgung) for all asylum seekers and refugees, irrespective of their legal status; free choice of their location of residence in Austria and access to public housing for all asylum seekers and refugees residing in Austria – no transfers against the wishes of the people concerned; access to employment, educational institutions and social security for all migrants residing in Austria; establishment of an independent authority for substantive review and appeal of all negative replies to asylum requests; recognition of socio-economic motives in addition to the previously recognized motives for seeking refuge as well as the stop of all deportations associated with the Dublin II Regulation. As a state party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Austria is obliged to respect, protect and fulfil the right to an adequate standard of living (Art. 11, right to food, housing, water, sanitation, clothing respectively) without endangering any other basic right. In reference to the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights on June 25th in 1993, all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated (paragraph 1.5).viii The first responsibilities of Governments are the protection and promotion of these universal human rights, which are to be conducted without conditions attached (paragraph 1.1; 1.8)ix. According to these international declaration and conventions, FIAN requests the Government of Austria to: Take immediate steps to respect and protect the human rights of refugees and asylum seekers and provide basic social support according to human rights standards. Take immediate steps to grant refugees and asylum seekers legal status which enables them to feed themselves (and provide for themselves) and respect and protect their basic social, economic and cultural human rights. Provide refugees and asylum seekers with permission to work /access to the labor-market in Austria so that they may obtain and sustain a decent standard of living. Revise framework-laws (e.g. Asylgesetze, Arbeits- und Aufenthaltsgesetz, etc.) affecting asylum seekers and refugees and reform them according to International Human Rights Law and standards. I will greatly appreciate to be kept informed of the action you plan to take in this regard. Yours sincerely Dr. Flavio Luis Schieck Valente Secretary General FIAN International 3 CC Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister of Austria Dr. Michael Spindelegger Bundesministerium für europäische und internationale Angelegenheiten Minoritenplatz 8 1014 Vienna, Austria [email protected] Austrian Ombudsman Board Ombudswoman Mag.a Terezija Stoisits Singerstraße 17 1010 Vienna, Austria [email protected] i http://www.bmeia.gv.at/aussenministerium/buergerservice/reiseinformation/a-z-laender/pakistan-de.html of jan 18th, 2013 iihttp://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/justice_freedom_security/free_movement_of_persons_asylum_immigration/l331 53_en.htm of jan 18th, 2013 iii http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4445fe344.html of jan 18th, 2013 ivhttp://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session10/AT/JS1_JointSubmission1byAGENDAASYL_eng.pdf of jan 18th, 2013 v http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/441545054.html of jan 18th, 2013 vi https://refugeecampvienna.noblogs.org/post/2012/11/26/refugee-demands-24th-nov-2012/ of jan 18th, 2013 vii see http://refugeecampvienna.noblogs.org/demands/demands-made-concrete/ of jan 18th, 2013 viii see paragraph 5, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/vienna.htm, of jan 18th, 2013 ix see paragraph 1 and 8, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/vienna.htm of jan 18th, 2013 4 .