Preface
This report documents the work of the Austrian Ombudsman Board (AOB)
and the activities of the Austrian National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) in
2016.
The AOB is not only fulfilling its legal obligation to report to the National
Council and the Federal Council. It also endeavours reaching readers from
the wider public, as the problems addressed in this report affect many citizens and deserve due attention.
Social and legal topics continue to be reason for many complaints within the
AOB’s ex-post control of Austrian public administration. This can be considered as an indication of economically difficult times in which the pressure
on the authorities to save money is increasing. But this should not happen at
the expense of those who need help. As in the last three years, the majority
of complaints, concern asylum cases. This is – to some extent – attributable
to the large number of refugees, but also to insufficient measures on the part
of the responsible authorities.
The AOB does not only perceive itself as a control mechanism. It also regards
it as its duty to raise awareness on human rights and draw attention to the
discrimination of individual groups. The AOB is also committed to this topic
on an international level. It actively supports projects in the field of human
rights and has established itself as a reliable partner in the protection of human rights in numerous bilateral and international co-operations.
In order to get a complete picture of its activities, the AOB must also be perceived in its function as a National Preventive Mechanism. The large proportion of this report (chapter 3 to 6) therefore deals with observations, findings
and recommendations of the Austrian NPM.
As NPM, the AOB’s core responsibilities lie in the protection of persons who
have been deprived of their liberty against torture and inhuman treatment.
The fact that such protection is at all necessary in Austria might seem awkward. However, even in highly developed democracies, the protection of these human rights is not a given fact.
It is apparent that human rights are violated not only in cases that make
the headlines of newspapers, but also in situations arising on a daily basis.
The work of the Austrian NPM consists in recognising and reporting these
situations as early as possible. This represents the essence of the preventive
mandate: to monitor the human rights situation through regular visits with
the aim of avoiding potential cases of maladministration before they arise.