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Fekter�s draft law may breach human rights, claim critics

By David Rogers

People�s Party (�VP) Interior Minister Maria Fekter�s draft law on foreigners may violate human rights legislation, critics have claimed.

Under the draft law x-rays can be used to determine the age of asylum applicants who claim to be minors and therefore exempt from deportation.

The Association of Austrian Cities and Towns (St�dtebund), the Physicians Chamber (�AK) and attorneys representing children have criticised the x-ray clause.

And the Association of Austrian Cities and Towns said not only was the reliability of age determination by x-rays questionable but that it could constitute a violation of asylum applicants� human rights.

�AK said the provision would violate legislation in protecting people from harmful rays and requiring that "ionizing radiation" be used exclusively for medical purposes.

But a spokesman for Fekter�s office said there had been no objections to the use of x-ray examinations of applicants already carried out for tuberculosis and the fact that age-determination by x-ray might not provide precise results was no problem as the examinations were not trying to differentiate between an 18-year-old and a 19-year-old but to catch someone 35 who was pretending to be a teenager. An error of a year or two would be "irrelevant," he said.

Meanwhile the Austrian Judges Association and the justice ministry workers� union have also attacked the legislation. They said it would increase their workload at a time when they were already short of staff.

And the science ministry said the draft law would only make foreign students and researchers� problems in Austria worse.

The Polytechnic Conference also warned the draft law would make cooperation with foreign schools more difficult since it would make it harder for foreigners who needed visas to get them and increase the length of their residence once they were in Austria.

Fekter announced a crack down on criminal asylum applicants last month. The minister said the new measures would help make Austria "one of the safest countries in the world."

Under the proposed measures, there would be faster expulsion proceedings against applicants who have been charged with crimes by the public prosecutor and broader use of preventive detention for applicants facing expulsion from Austria.

Fekter, who said the number of applicants in preventive detention had risen from 5,400 last year to 8,700, said a new detention centre, probably to be located in Leoben, Styria, would be used for the accommodation of more applicants in preventive detention.

The minister added applicants in fake marriages with Austrians would also face expulsion. In the past, only Austrians involved in such marriages have been liable to punishment.

Fekter said she wanted the measures to become law by 1 January 2010.

Austrian Times

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