Amnesty warns: Asylum law threatens family rights in Austria!

Amnesty warns: Asylum law threatens family rights in Austria!

Österreich, Land - Amnesty International criticized the planned change of the Asylum Act in Austria on April 10, 2025. According to Amnesty International enables the government to change the family by an emergency status regulation to restrict drastically. This measure is regarded as a serious fracture of international human rights obligations and endangers the right to family life for recognized refugees.

aimée Stuflesser from Amnesty emphasizes that there is no acute emergency that would justify such profound interventions. The government is the reason for the overload of the education system, while the asylum figures are declining. In February 2025, only 1,500 positive asylum decisions were recorded, which corresponds to a decline of 68 % compared to the previous year. In addition, the number of persons entered by family reunification was only 60 in the same month.

human rights and family life

The planned change in the law could deviate from EU law. The European Court of Justice has emphasized strict prerequisites for exceptions to the minimum human rights standards. Compliance with the right to family life is protected by various international conventions such as the ECHR and the UN Children's Rights Conventions. Amnesty calls for the withdrawal of the legislative proposal and an asylum policy based on human rights in order not to endanger the mental health and integration of those entitled to protection.

A positive element of the change in the law is the exception for unaccompanied refugee children, but the reason for this remains questionable. Furthermore, Amnesty criticizes the unclear regulation that the representative authority does not have to justify why an application is not decided what leads to considerable legal uncertainty.

Reform of European asylum law

The reform was adopted before the European elections in June 2024. In 2023, 1.1 million asylum applications were made in the EU, the highest number since 2016, including 330,000 applications in Germany. Asylum seekers from the relatively secure states face more strict guidelines, and the member countries can deport migrants who have a connection to safe third countries such as Tunisia or Albania.

future challenges and measures

The EU has also passed a new migration and asylum package regardless of the planned changes in the law. This was accepted with Dublin regulations and the introduction of a centralized system for processing information about third-country nationals at the EU boundaries.