Border Crimes, Externalisation Policies, and the Role of Austria

The securitization and externalization of EU borders leads to continuously more infringements of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Geneva Refugee Convention as well as EU and national legislation. The Member States intentionally commit illegal acts while, at the same time, aiming at legalizing these practices in the foreseen “Pact on Asylum on Migration”.

Austria plays a paramount role in furthering these illegal and inhuman practices – by lobbying for ever stricter asylum-, border-, and visa-policies on the EU level and by actively implementing and supporting border controls and surveillance inside and outside of Austria. In this vein, Austrian police is patrolling the Hungarian-Serbian border while Austrian agencies support readmissions from the EU to Balkan states and deportations from these states. The legality of these activities is, at least, doubtful, their inhumanity in many cases proven.

Especially, the Viennese institute ICMPD (International Centre for Migration Policy Development) and the Joint Coordination Platform, organized by the Austrian Ministry of Interior affairs, are central players in this field.

Klaudia Wieser (researcher and activist, Push-Back Alarm Austria) in conversation with Nidžara Ahmetašević (journalist, researcher, and activist, Sarajevo)

Präsentationen in englischer Sprache, Diskussion in Englisch und Deutsch, Flüsterübersetzung möglich