In recent years reports on ill-treatment of migrants, asylum seekers or persons on grounds of ethnic origin or colour of skin by the police or the judiciary has been reported by the media and NGOs.

The most prominent cases of abuse of migrants and/or persons from ethnic minorities by the police or in custody are the following incidents:

- In 1999, Marcus Omofuma, an asylum seeker who had been refused, died during deportation because police officers tied him up and taped up his mouth and nose.

-  In 2003, Seibane Wague, a Mauretanian student, died during his arrest after being fixated by police officers.

- In 2006, Bakary J. was tortured and abused by police officers after a failed deportation attempt.

- In 2006, a Turkish born Austrian wanted to seek help and file a complaint against a drunken man who had threatened him and his wife with a baseball bat. The former participant in the Olympics says that the four police men at the Viennese police station that he had turned to sent him and his wife away using racist epithets (“Scheißkanaken”, meaning about the same as “fucking wogs”).

- In 2006, a Mexican citizen was insulted and threatened by police officers after asking the way to the nearest underground station at the Donauinsel Festival. Subsequently, he was pused, pulled to the ground, injured, handcuffed and taken to the police station.

-  In 2009, an African American teacher in Vienna was pulled to the ground and beaten up by plain-clothes policemen after leaving the metro at Spittelau station. After the intervention of his girl friend he was taken by the ambulance to the hospital where he was diagnosed to be severely injured.

Although there are repeated incidents of abuse and ill-treatment there is no systematic evaluation of police violence against migrants/minorities in custody.

The Human Rights Adivsory Board, which was established in 1999 and is responsible for the monitoring and observation of all activities of the security services, has published several reports including a report on "problematic deportations", a report on the problem of minors as immigration detainees, a report on human rights issues in the context of the detention of women, a report on the problem of information of detained persons, a report on the medical care of detained persons, a report on the conditions of detention in police cells, a study and report on the habitual language use of police officials, a report "Use of police force - fixation methods - positional asphyxia" and a report on appropriate state's response on alleged human rights violations. Concerning the state's response on alleged human rights violations it states that the investigation of ill-treatment and abuse by the police is neither independent nor done quickly and comprehensively.

On April 9th, 2009 amnesty international published its report on racism in the police and justice system in Austria. The report comprises a description about the Austrian obligations under international law, followed by a background analysis of the situation of ethnic minorities, racism and xenophobia in Austria. Furthermore it delineates on the legislative provisions in Austrian law before elaborating on the indicators of institutional racism. The report also covers the appointment of ethnic minorities within the police force as well as the education and training of police officers. The results disclose that the Austrian police as well as the judiciary are not granting all persons irrespective of their origin or colour of skin equal access to their services. There are repeated incidents of racist and xenophobic assaults by police officers, which are not individual cases but indicating structural and institutional forms of racism and xenophobia.


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