Austria maintains firm stance on refugee policies amid criticism

By Kristina Hauptmann

Edited by Gina Edwards

People seeking asylum in Austria could soon have a more difficult time gaining refugee status and access to the country.

Although asylum seekers currently must initially register in reception centers, newly proposed policies seek to detain them in such centers for up to seven days. The Austrian Cabinet has already approved these changes, which will go to a vote in the Parliament in April.

To the United Nations Refugee Agency, such changes to policy are bad for integration and can be traumatizing to asylum seekers, said Ruth Schöffl, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Vienna.

“It’s a question of how you deal with people when they come to your country,” she said. “If you lock them up right away, it seems they’re not welcome. It’s too hard on people, and I don’t think it would bring Austria any benefits by doing it.”

However, the Interior Ministry maintains that the new policies fully comply with the Geneva Refugee Convention.

“Those people who really need protection will always be granted it,” said Gerald Dreveny, deputy head of the Department for Asylum Affairs. He added that many people enter Austria seeking temporary work, which does not qualify them for refugee status.

An asylum seeker is anyone fleeing his or her country because of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, or political opinion, according to the UNHCR website. When asylum seekers enter Austria, they must undergo a review process with the Federal Asylum Office to prove their need, according to the UNHCR website. If turned down, they can appeal in Asylum Court.

When asylum seekers gain access to the country, they are considered refugees with access to housing, social security, work, and integration, Schöffl said.

Under the new policies, asylum seekers must stay in reception centers for up to seven days, and minors ages 16 to 18 can be confined for up to two months, Schöffl said.

“When you’re not allowed to leave, it’s basically detention,” she said. “There should be no detention for minors in general.”

In a Feb. 22 news release, Christoph Pinter, head of UNHCR’s legal department in Austria, called the country’s new procedures “a prison with open doors.”

“This regime is disproportionate and both legal and humanitarian points of view are being rejected,” Pinter said.

The reception centers are used to conduct interviews and medical checks of the asylum seekers, Dreveny said.

“This does not mean they’re imprisoned,” he said.

In addition to confinement to detention centers, the legal counseling system for asylum seekers is also changing, Schöffl said. The legal aid is provided by the government, making it difficult for asylum seekers to trust their counselors, she said.

“They don’t know if [the information] goes directly into the ministry,” Schöffl said.

Although he acknowledged arguments from groups like the UNHCR, Dreveny said they didn’t accurately reflect the situation.

“There is no single country in the world when you deal with immigration where there isn’t criticism,” he said.

Last year, Austria received about 11,000 asylum seekers, with most coming from Afghanistan, Somalia and Iraq, Schöffl said. About 18 percent of them received refugee status, she said. The last major wave of asylum seekers came during the 1990s, when Austria absorbed about 100,000 Bosnian refugees, she said.

Safe Alpine skiing surfaces under control, for now

(Image provided by www.austria.info)

By Kristina Hauptmann

Edited by Hiram Foster

The drastic retreat of Alpine glaciers during the past 30 years has done little to stem the seasonal influx of skiers to the region.

The Austrian Alps have seen an approximate 67 percent increase in winter tourism since 1980, according to data from a Tyrol State Government report issued in January. About 15 million people visited the region in 1980, and about 25 million visited last year, the report said.

The steady arrival of winter guests is seemingly unaffected by the rate at which Alpine glaciers are shrinking. The Alps have lost between 20 and 30 percent of their glacier cover since the 1980s, said Wolfgang Schöner, a climate researcher at the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics in Vienna. The institute also has an observatory at Sonnblick in the central Alps.

Glaciers are thick beds of ice that once covered most of the Northern Hemisphere, and most exist today in mountain regions and at the poles. The last glacial period ended about 10,000 years ago. Alpine glaciers exist at 2,020 meters and higher, Schöner said.

Glaciers are Shrinking

Schöner attributes this century’s glacial retreat to two factors: a rise in average mountain temperatures — about 1.8 degrees Centigrade, more than the global average — and an increase in global radiation. The combination has shrunk the glaciers’ surface area at a rate of 0.5m to 1m a year since 1980, he said.

To remedy snowfall discrepancies, many Alpine regions create artificial snow for mid-range altitudes, which are the most affected by glacial retreat, according to a 2007 report from the Austrian Embassy.

Michael Kuhn, professor of meteorology and geophysics at the University of Innsbruck, said high altitude skiing is not at risk. The greater glacier cover provides a smoother surface upon which skiers only need about 30 cm to ski safely, he said.

Compensating

But at intermediate altitudes — about 1,500m — where temperatures are higher, less snow accumulates and can leave rocks exposed, Kuhn said. There skiers need at least 50 cm to ski safely, and that’s where artificial snow can help, he said. However, because one cubic meter costs about 3 Euros (about $4), providing enough can become expensive, he added.

The winter tourism industry is also responding by moving skiing areas to higher altitudes, grooming rocky slopes and protecting glaciers with white plastic sheets, according to the Austrian Embassy’s report.

“Covering with fleece or textiles (in summer) can save 70 percent of snow,” Kuhn said. “But it’s also costly and only on strategic points. It’s not feasible or economical to cover all of it.”

The Austrian Embassy’s report also noted the limitations of these practices, both economically and environmentally. Ski slope grooming can undermine the stability of mountain slopes, and moving skiing areas to higher altitudes can threaten the fragile environment, the report said.

Outlook: Not so good

Although the tourism industry’s precautions are working now, they might not be able to keep up with glacier shrinkage in the future, the Austrian Embassy’s report said.

The crux of the problem lies in the increase in summer temperatures, Schöner said. Since 1980, there has been a 50 percent decrease in summer snow, he said. With less snow on the ground, radiation from the sun is absorbed into the glaciated rock instead of being reflected back into space, he said.

“It’s important to have regular snowfall in summertime,” Schöner said. “Because of increased temperature in summer, the glaciers are strongly retreating.”

Still, winter snowfall has not changed much, and skiing is currently not a problem in the Alps, Schöner said.

For now, at least, winter tourism still generates a 7.3 billion Euro (about $9.9 billion) turnover every year, according to the Tyrol State Government report.

“People in Tyrol make still good money in tourism,” said Katleen Johne, who works in Tyrol’s tourism department, via e-mail. “We are in a good position.”