Children's Rights Day: Ombudsman Board in favour of uniform child/youth welfare standards

Child and youth welfare in the hands of the federal states since 2020

The NGOs, with which the Austrian Ombudsman Board is in close and regular dialogue, see - in addition to child poverty - the transfer of child and youth welfare as one of the main problems. Since 2020, the responsibility for child and youth welfare has been entirely in the hands of the federal states, which the Ombudsman Board has repeatedly criticised. "Nationwide uniform standards would be necessary, because in a country as small as Austria, it is unacceptable that there are such large regional differences, for example in support services, staffing ratios and group sizes in shared child and youth care centres, in the training requirements for the staff there, but also in the energy invested in avoiding child abduction."

Close cooperation between the Ombudsman Board and NGOs

In order to fulfil its role as a national human rights institution, the Austrian Ombudsman Board works closely with civil society organisations. "We are a link between civil society and politics and have therefore set up the so-called NGO Sounding Board, where regular dialogue with NGOs takes place. The Austrian Ombudsman Board also organises the annual NGO Forum, the topic of which is discussed in advance on the sounding board. This year's NGO Forum was dedicated entirely to the topic of children's rights," says Achitz. In addition to the Austrian Children's Rights Network, which is made up of 55 organisations and institutions promoting the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, participants on the NGO side included the Federal Youth Representation, Ombudspersons for Children and Young People, the Austrian Council for Disabled People, Amnesty International, Caritas, Volkshilfe, Asylkoordination Österreich and the ZARA association. The federal states were represented by experts from the state governments.

Unaccompanied refugee children: child and youth welfare services should take over custody

The situation of unaccompanied refugee minors (UMF) was also discussed at the NGO forum. The commissions of the Austrian Ombudsman Board dealing with preventive human rights monitoring also recognised that their care is inadequate. They criticised the fact that children have no legal guardians as long as they are in federal care - but it usually takes much longer than expected before they are taken into provincial care. In the centres where they are accommodated, hygiene conditions are sometimes unacceptable. German courses are not available. There is a lack of staff. The daily rates that the centres receive are significantly lower than in child and youth welfare. Ombudsman Achitz: "It would make sense for child and youth welfare services to take over the care of unaccompanied refugee children as soon as they arrive in Austria. Of course, this would also require appropriate funding."