Progress: No progress
Continue to respect economic, social and cultural rights including social protection without discrimination
Proponent:
Slovakia
Slovak Republic
Remarks to progress by Liga (last modified Dec 31, 2024):
The status of economic, social and cultural human rights remains precarious. Fundamental social rights in particular are not enshrined in the constitution. The lack of implementation in this area was also criticised by the Austrian League of Human Rights in the Human Rights Report 2022. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (BGBl. No. 590/1978) is also not enshrined in constitutional law. It is subject to fulfilment within the meaning of Article 50 para. 2 of the Federal Constitution, meaning that a supreme court review of relevant laws and measures on the basis of this instrument is not possible. Austria has also not ratified the Optional Protocol on the individual complaints procedure. The implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child through the Federal Constitutional Act on the Rights of Children (BGBl. I No. 4/2011) also largely omitted the economic, social and cultural rights of children. On the contrary, many welfare state regulations, including access to affordable social housing, have been tightened for migrants and refugees in recent years. Social protection and social participation are thus being withheld from immigrants in a discriminatory manner. This matter is partly a matter for the federal states, meaning that there are major differences across Austria. There is a lack of harmonisation in line with human rights. The Basic Social Assistance Act (Federal Law Gazette I 2019/41) was also repealed by the Constitutional Court in March 2023 in key points (including qualified knowledge of German as a prerequisite for receiving social assistance) due to a violation of the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) (see the Constitutional Court’s website: https://www.vfgh.gv.at/medien/Sozialhilfe.php). However, numerous other regulations at federal and provincial level contain explicit disadvantages for asylum seekers and persons entitled to asylum, persons entitled to subsidiary protection, as well as non-EU citizens (third-country nationals), some of whom have been living legally in Austria for a long time. This also applies, for example, to the Upper Austrian Housing Subsidies Act, which contains special obstacles to accessing housing subsidies for third-country nationals and refugees who are long-term residents, or the Federal Housing Non-Profit Act, according to which subsidised housing may only be allocated to foreign citizens after 5 years of residence and a successful integration test (Upper Austrian Housing Subsidies Act: https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=LROO&Gesetzesnummer=10000366).
