Preface
Since July 2012 the Austrian Ombudsman Board (AOB) fulfills the mandate to protect and
promote human rights, granted to it under Austrian constitutional law. This report gives an
account of the activities of the Austrian National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) in 2014.
The Act on the Implementation of OPCAT (OPCAT-Durchführungsgesetz, Federal Law Gazette I,
No. 1/2012) goes far beyond the mere implementation of the OPCAT and as the National Human
Right Institution in Austria the AOB welcomes the significant extension of this mandate with
regard to preventive work.
This very broad preventive mandate includes a mandate as NPM according to OPCAT (Austrian
Federal Constitution, Art. 148a subsection 1), a mandate as independent monitoring authority
according to Art. 16 para. 3 CRPD (Austrian Federal Constitution, Art. 148a subsection 2) as well
as a mandate to monitor and concomitantly examine the behavior of organs authorized to issue
direct orders and carry out coercive measures (Austrian Federal Constitution, Art. 148a
subsection 3).
It was at the explicit request of civil society, that the task as an independent mechanism for the
prevention of violence in accordance to Art. 16 para. 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was included in this mandate. It is our clear intention to comply
with both, our mandate as NPM and as an independent authority according to Art. 16 para. 3
CRPD. The monitoring experience of the past years has shown that these tasks overlap as far as
facilities are concerned. Our annual report therefore intentionally includes the monitoring of
facilities dedicated to persons with disabilities, since they also fall within the scope of
OPCAT (Art. 4).
As regards its tasks as NPM, the AOB interprets Art. 4 OPCAT as broadly as possible. Several
activities within its additional preventive mandate (especially according to Art. 148a subsection 3
of the Austrian Federal Constitution) may not only fall under the remit of the NPM (e.g. police
conduct during demonstrations or police raids during controls of the immigration police).
However, since Art. 148a subsection 3 clearly states that the NPM’s commissions are entitled to
observe the behavior of law enforcement bodies during such events, we articulate the view that –
with a view to protect and promote human rights in Austria – the NPM is obliged to carry out this
mandate to its full potential.
We would like to thank the commissions for their commitment during the numerous monitoring
visits and the Human Rights Advisory Council for its advisory support. Our particular thanks go to
our employees, who contributed significantly to the fulfilment of our constitutional mandate. Last
but not least we would like to express our thanks to the Federal Ministries and other federal,
regional and municipal bodies for their willingness to cooperate.
Dr. Günther Kräuter
Ombudsman
Vienna, June 2015
Dr. Gertrude Brinek
Ombudswoman
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Dr. Peter Fichtenbauer
Ombudsman