Indicator history

A report by amnesty international on racial discrimination within the Austrian justice system emphasized that law enforcement officials or representatives of judicial bodies do not provide the same quality of service to members of ethnic minorities as would routinely be provided to white Austrians. (Amnesty International 2009, p. 6)

The report indicated that the judicial system can be charactarised by institutional racism. This means that "common social prejudices and stereotypes regarding foreign nationals and different religious and ethnic groups also permeate law enforcement structures and that these result in a range of discriminatory practices, which the organizations concerned do too little to prevent and too little in response to. And, secondly, 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." (Amnesty International 2009, p. 5)

However, the training programme of judges and public prosecutors includes special seminars that focus on the treatment of victims in court, on anti-racism and on anti-discrimination. These seminars are alleged to be well-attended.

Sources: Amnesty International: Victim or Suspect. Racial Discrimination in the Austrian Justice System. 2009. Available at: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR13/002/2009/en/2489f108-4004-4330-8bb5-181d93a3c69a/eur130022009en.pdf; http://hudoc.ecri.coe.int/XMLEcri/ENGLISH/Cycle_04/04_CbC_eng/AUT-CbC-IV-2010-002-ENG.pdf