School-age children and their families who have been living in Austria for years have been deported to Georgia and Armenia. The Austrian president “cannot believe it” and asks whether the rights of the children have been respected. “Sometimes the welfare of the child must take precedence over the interests of the state,” maintains Lisa Heschl, a researcher at the European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy at the University of Graz. And she is lobbying for reform to Austrian law on the humanitarian right to stay.
Austrian immigration and asylum law is certainly not one of the most straightforward legal areas. Separately from the present hotly-disputed case, there is a question of when the right to stay can be granted on humanitarian grounds. “In principle, the decision is a trade-off between the interests of the state in compliance with its laws and the individual life circumstances of the person concerned,” explains Lisa Heschl. “There are certain established criteria, but the degree of integration and the extent to which individuals are settled in society can only ever be assessed on a case-by-case basis. This should be done at the local level by the state or municipal authorities, taking account of observations from their support workers or of local associations when making such decisions. Who is better placed to assess cases of hardship?”
The rights of children are specified in the Austrian constitution and should be given more weight, according to Heschl, who is an expert in human rights. “Particularly in cases where children know nothing or very little of their country of origin.” Although each case needs to be assessed individually, child welfare must have priority over the fear of setting precedents.