Universal Periodic Review

Amend the incitement provisions of § 283 StGB to include the victim group on the basis of gender identity

Proponent:

Remarks to progress by Liga (last modified Apr 1, 2025):

There is still no standardised and comprehensive legal protection against discrimination in Austria. Austrian equality law is still characterised by a discriminatory hierarchy of grounds for discrimination. When it comes to access to goods and services, federal law (which is applicable in the majority of all cases) only provides protection against discrimination on the basis of disability, ethnicity and gender – but not on the basis of age, religion and belief or sexual orientation. Furthermore, there is no comprehensive protection against discrimination based on all grounds of discrimination in the area of education. Similarly, there is no comprehensive protection against discrimination in a number of areas of social protection.    There is no explicit legal protection against intersectional discrimination and discrimination based on gender identity, gender expression or gender characteristics. The anti-discrimination laws and the respective equality bodies at federal and state level are organised very differently, which makes access to justice more difficult.
Those affected by discrimination usually have to take legal action individually. The amounts of damages awarded in practice are low and there is a lack of effective statutory minimum compensation and injunctive relief. A collective action as a collective legal protection instrument only exists in cases of discrimination on the basis of disability.
The current government programme 2025-2029 does not provide for the elimination of these inequalities in discrimination protection https://www.bundeskanzleramt.gv.at/bundeskanzleramt/die-bundesregierung/regierungsdokumente.html   As part of the government plan 2025-2029, the federal government is pursuing this goal through close cooperation with all stakeholders (see government plan 2ß025-2029: https://www.bundeskanzleramt.gv.at/bundeskanzleramt/die-bundesregierung/regierungsdokumente.html).