Indicator history

The Richtlinien-Verordnung (Guidelines Regulation) laying down the appropriate conduct of police officers during official acts stipulates that all security bodies have to refrain from any action giving the impression of being biased or discriminating against persons on grounds of gender, race or colour of skin, national or ethnic origin, religion, political attitudes or sexual orientation.

However, there are repeated incidents reporting misconduct of the police against non-citizens or persons belonging to ethnic minorities. The 2010 ECRI-report on Austria states that "persons belonging to minority groups, in particular Blacks, were widely reported to have been disproportionalty subject to police checks and to have been verbally abused in a racist way, harassed or even physically abused by law enforcement officials." (ECRI Report on Austria 2010, p. 39)

In 2009 Amnesty International published a report on racial discrimination in the Austrian Justice System.  The report suggests institutional racism within the Austrian police force and other parts of the criminal justice system. The report criticises inter alia that ‘the systems in place for responding to racist misconduct by the police and for ensuring a consistently appropriate response to crimes reported by members of ethnic minorities are inadequate’. The Amnesty Report also reports that the police and the judicial system are reluctant persecuting cases of racist conduct and ill-treatment by the police.

Sources: http://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=10005857; http://hudoc.ecri.coe.int/XMLEcri/ENGLISH/Cycle_04/04_CbC_eng/AUT-CbC-IV-2010-002-ENG.pdf; Amnesty International (2009): Österreich: Opfer oder Verdächtige. Eine Frage der Hautfarbe. Wien.