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Austria plans to detain all asylum seekers |
Last week, Austrian right-wing Interior Minister, Maria Fekter, announced plans to detain all asylum seekers in reception centres until a first-instance decision on their claim has been made, up to a maximum of 28 days. She insisted that this would not constitute a violation of their human rights as they have freedom to move inside the reception centre.
The announcement provoked critical reactions from both political parties and NGOs. The Social Democratic party -- the governments coalition partner -- said that a provision to detain all asylum seekers would contradict the Austrian constitution.
Bjarte Vandvik, Secretary General of ECRE, denounced the Interior Ministrys intention: many refugees are in fact fleeing from arbitrary detention in their home countries. Subjecting them to systematic detention here is ineffective, illegal, and inhumane.
UNHCR also condemned Fekters plans and reiterated that automatic detention of asylum seekers contravenes the EU Asylum Procedures Directive, which stipulates that nobody can be detained solely on the basis of having requested asylum.
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