Report on the Protection of the Constitution 2009 published

Policy Response DateSeptember 23, 2009 Country: Austria Address: Vienna General Type: Racist violence, Racist discourse Racism and discrimination phenomena: Extremism - organised Racist Violence, Anti-migrant/xenophobia, Anti-semitism, Islamophobia, Nationalism
Groups affected / Interested in: Migrants, Refugees, Muslims, Ethnic minorities, Religious minorities, Asylum seekers Key socio-economic/institutional areas: Policing - law enforcement, Political discourse -parties - orgs, Anti-racism Hate speech/Racist Discourse Medium: Public Discourse, Political Discourse

The main official source of data on racist violence and crimes is the Verfassungsschutzbericht 2009 [Report on the Protection of the Constitution] issued by the Büro für Verfassungsschutz und Terrorismusbekämpfung (BVT) [Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counter-Terrorism] within the Federal Ministry of the Interior. According to this report, the number of recorded racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic incidents has increased by 22.9 per cent during 2008 in comparison to 2007, (i.e. from 345 incidents in 2007 to 424 incidents in 2008). Out of these 424 incidents, 333 related to right-wing extremism (in 2007: 280), 56 to xenophobia (in 2007: 48), 23 to anti-Semitism (in 2007: 15) and 12 to Islamophobia (in 2007: 2). With regard to these 424 incidents, 835 complaints (alleged legal offences) were filed with the police, an increase of 11.04 per cent compared to 2007. The reported complaints related to agitations, verbal attacks, smearings, damages to property and bodily injuries.

Source:

Austria/Bundesministerium für Inneres, Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz und Terrorismusbekämpfung, Verfassungsschutzbericht 2009, available at: http://www.bmi.gv.at/cms/BMI_Verfassungsschutz/VSB_2009_Online.pdf (2011-09-29).