Author
There were still important differences between the different detention facilities in 2023. While no major dysfunction or maladministration was reported in Vordernberg, there have been only few positive developments in the two major Viennese detention facilities. Of particular concern is the fact that people are still being detained in cells during the day, instead of open areas. There are very few allegations on mistreatment but serious and well-founded complaints about the bad material conditions in the Viennese detention facilities. In its report presented in 2023 following a visit in 2021, the CPT stated that the accommodation and communal areas were “in an appalling state of repair with corridors, cells and their sanitary annexes dilapidated and dirty.” The atmosphere is described as “very carceral and oppressive” and as “not suitable for holding foreign nationals in Schubhaft for prolonged periods.”[1] As of the end of 2023, there was still no mechanism to identify vulnerable people in detention centres, which is a serious issue that was also highlighted by the mission report of the OHCHR in October 2018.[2]
Although social counselling is not foreseen in practice, the information leaflet provided to detainees mentions that activities take place in the centre such as “social counselling”. BBU GmbH does offers legal counselling for detainees who also have to undergo return counselling by another department of the BBU GmbH. NGOs receive no funding and are not regularly present in detention centres. UNHCR is not regularly present in detention centres.[3]
The Austrian Ombudsman Board (AOB) has been responsible for protecting and promoting human rights in the Republic of Austria since 1 July 2012 and is the institution designed to promote the Austrian National Preventive Mechanism (NPM). The commission of the AOB can visit detention centres at any time. During the first months of COVID-19 in 2020, however, they had to suspend their visits to detention centres. After the lockdown, they resumed their visits to police detention centres and identified challenges regarding visiting modalities, staffing level, solitary confinement and access to the yard.[4]
Medical treatment is provided in all detention centres by medical staff. Special treatment may be organised by transferring detainees to hospitals. In the detention centres in Vienna, psychiatric treatment is provided. In Vienna, detainees on hunger strike may be transferred to the medical station of the prison, but forced feeding is not allowed. In case there is a high probability of a health risk due to hunger strike, asylum seekers are usually released from detention. Detainees on hunger strike should only be placed in isolation if the necessary medical treatment cannot be provided at the open detention centre. In Vordernberg, there are two types of doctors: doctors who work alongside police authorities and help determining whether detention can be continued or not, and regular doctors who only provide care to the detainees. The system of having different doctors should be extended to other detention facilities, but is not applied in practice yet.[5] The AOB (NPM) has further criticised the fact that medical treatment is not provided immediately in cases of mental illness or suicide risk.[6]
In its 2017 Annual Report that was published in 2018, the AOB formulated a list of recommendations necessary for the improvement of the detention facilities, which include inter alia the necessity of establishing single cells, providing adequate access to medical care, ensuring adequate detention conditions (e.g. natural light, ventilation, hygienic measures, visits etc.) [7] These recommendations had not been implemented as of 2023. There are no signs that any reform in the area of detention of foreigners is planned in the new future.
[1] CPT, Report on periodic visit 2021, June 2023, https://shorturl.at/ca3jN.
[2] OHCHR, Report of mission to Austria focusing on the human rights situation of migrants, particularly in the context of return, October 2018, https://bit.ly/2TfscSi.
[3] Reports to asylkoordination by UNHCR, NGOs and BBU GmbH in January 2024, not published.
[4] Fundamental Rights Agency, Migration Bulletin 4, November 2020, https://bit.ly/3qmLzXa.
[5] Report from Diakonie Flüchtlingsdienst and Deserteurs- und Flüchtlingsberatung to asylkoordination österreich March 2023
[6] Volksanwaltschaft, Menschenrechtsbeirat, “Medizinische Versorgung von Verwaltungshäftlingen”, available in German at https://shorturl.at/atmr1.
[7] AOB, Annual Report 2017, available at: https://bit.ly/2SLaenu.