racism in austria. an outsider’s view

The UN expert body under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racism (CERD) recently review Austria’s record. 

The picture that emerges is rather not pretty. Added to the misery of the experts’ findings is the fact that no reports were filed by civil society. Note that most UN bodies, when examining human rights issues in nation states, now accept parallel reports compiled by NGOs or other voices from within civil society. It is a unique opportunity for civil society to reach out to international fora and it is frequently utilized by representatives of other countries.

The concluding observations state among a plethora of scrutiny and pertaining recommendations:

“The Committee is concerned about reported instances of hate speech by politicians, targeting migrants, asylum-seekers, refugees, persons of African origin and members of minorities.” 

This would be a violation of Article 4 (c) CERD. 

So: “The Committee recalls that the exercise of the right to freedom of expression carries special duties and responsibilities, including the obligation not to disseminate racist ideas. It recommends that the State party take resolute action to counter any tendency, especially from politicians, to target, stigmatize, stereotype or profile people on the basis of race, colour, descent and national or ethnic origin, or to use racist propaganda in politics.” 

The concluding observations may also be found online.