DATABASE 2012-2022 ON ANTI-MUSLIM HATRED

The identification and recognition of bias motives has become an integral part of the work routine of the Austrian police since November 2020. The first half year of police recognition (November 2020 to April 2021) was statistically evaluated. The key results are: In 1,936 bias-motivated crimes, 2,401 bias motives were registered. The categories “national/ethnic origin”, “ideology/ political views” and “religion” were the ones most frequently assigned to the offences. In terms of bias motivations, “gender”, “sexual orientation”, Muslim faith and “disability” dominated in offences against life and limb, freedom, honour or sexual integrity and self-determination.

In 2020, the security authorities in Austria were informed of a total of 895 right-wing extremist, xenophobic/racist, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic and unspecific or other offences in which relevant offences were reported. An offence can include several offences with separate reports. Compared to 2019 (954 offences), this means a numerical decrease of 6.2 per cent. In 2020, 1,364 offences were reported nationwide in connection with the offences listed, which is 18.7 per cent less than in 2019 (1,678 offences).

In 2020, 3,039 people experienced, perceived, and reported racist incidents to ZARA. That are 1,089 more reports than in the previous year. The terrorist attack in Vienna on 2 November has also contributed to fuelling prejudice against Muslims, anti-Muslim racism, and Islamophobia.

In 2021, ZARA documented and handled 1,977 reports of racism. Day-to-day counselling operations have shown that racist and anti-Muslim attacks in public affect women in particular. Here, both racism and sexism play a role.

In 2021, 1,061 cases of Anti-Muslim racism were reported. The three main offences reported concern spreading of hate (68.3%), incitement (10.2%), and racist insults (9.1%).

In 2020, 1,402 cases of Anti-Muslim racism were reported. The three main offences reported concern spreading of hate/incitement (80.4%), racist insults (10.3%) and property damage (3.9%).

An amendment to the School Education Act in 2019 prohibits Muslim girls to wear headscarves. It raises concerns regarding the principles of lawfulness, neutrality and non-discrimination. There are high levels of Islamophobia and the public discourse has become increasingly xenophobic. Political speech has taken on highly divisive and antagonistic overtones particularly targeting Muslims and refugees. Alleged practices of ethnic profiling by the police, against persons belonging to Black and Muslim communities in particular, continue to be reported.

In 2018, the Austrian security authorities registered a total of 1,075 right-wing extremist, xenophobic/racist, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic and unspecific or other criminal acts, in the course of which relevant offences were reported to the authorities. One criminal act may comprise several offences separately reported to the authorities. Compared to 2017 (1,063 offences), the number increased by 1.1 percent. 677 criminal acts, that is 63 percent, were successfully solved. In 2017, the rate of successfully solved cases amounted to 58.1 percent. In connection with the criminal offences mentioned, 1,622 offences were reported in Austria in 2018, which is 2.9 percent more than in 2017 (1,576 offences).

In its report on Austria published on 13 October 2017, ECRI recommended that the Austrian authorities merge the various anti-discrimination acts and institutions of the Federation and the Länder in order to improve the protection afforded to victims of racism and discrimination. ECRI now concludes that this recommendation has only been partly implemented. In its previous report on Austria, ECRI strongly recommended that Austria ratifies the Additional Protocol to the Convention on Cybercrime, concerning the criminalisation of acts of a racist and xenophobic nature committed through computer systems. It now concludes that this recommendation has not yet been implemented.