human rights austria

The US Department of State released its annual human rights report. Austria’s write up discusses various areas of human rights and raises a string of concerns. It also observes that “There appeared to be relatively little representation of ethnic minorities at the national level.”

Ahead of the elections in Carynthia – on Sunday, March 1 2009 – a piece for derstandard.at by Tanja Malle – “Verflixt und Zugetafelt” – discussed the underlying issues in the ongoing debate over topographical town signs for the Slovene minority in the province. As Malle rightly states, the ongoing debate over the number of town signs is barring a much needed discussion over the fostering of minority culture, particularly language education. The political climate created by the town sign debate has paved the way for minimalist – or as Malle describes it – “alibi” provision of language initiatives in kindergartens and other educational fora.