Federal Chancellor of Austria, Sebastian Kurz, has made unfortunate statements to a Greek newspaper with regard to asylum-seekers immediately after the World Refugee Day. This country, which has closed off its borders to asylum-seekers since the beginning and even suggested building up a wall at the borders, acts against EU’s and humanity’s common values, main human rights conventions and 1951 Geneva Convention.

All EU member states and FRONTEX, to which Austrians also take part, are obliged to implement the aforementioned agreements and the EU law, to provide protection to asylum-seekers arriving at their borders, to refrain from push-backs and inhumane treatment towards them.

In fact, Austria’s position on asylum-seekers is no different at all from the stance of Greece, whose inhumane treatments towards asylum-seekers at our borders, is imprinted on memories.

We advise Federal Chancellor of Austria, to read carefully the statement of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Mijatovic, dated 19th June 2020.

“Protecting the human rights and dignity of refugees is not an option, but a moral and legal obligation that all member states have to uphold.”