At the 62nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, held in Geneva (Switzerland), it was Austria’s turn to be reviewed.

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) is one of the organisations authorised to participate in these Universal Periodic Reviews (UPR) of each country, during which governments hear proposals on how best to uphold the freedoms and rights of every individual.

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Greater collaboration with organisations supporting victims of trafficking

“We commend Austria’s efforts to protect victims of human trafficking, especially by codifying a non-punishment provision for victims of exploitation”, began Anna Mouhout in her address.

“However, there remain concerns regarding the lack of implementation of this provision, as well as the lack of consistent and comprehensive victim identification systems”, the evangelical representative continued.

The WEA believes that Austria should improve “protection structures” for victims, particularly “by partnering with civil society organisations and offering residence permits to survivors of exploitation”.

Barriers for ‘non-traditional’ faith groups

With regard to full religious freedom, Austria has expressed a willingness to ensure equal treatment for all registered faith groups, as well as to make greater efforts to prevent national security measures (against terrorism, for example) from restricting the freedoms of worshippers.

However, the WEA remains concerned about the “hierarchy of institutional recognition” it identifies in Austria, where Roman Catholicism is the historical church. “Non-traditional churches and newer faith communities continue to face disproportionate barriers to obtaining recognition as religious denominational communities”, said Mouhout in her address.

In other words, “the state should not determine or impose a model of what constitutes a legitimate or ‘traditional’ faith community on diverse religious groups. We urge Austria to ensure that legal requirements do not disproportionately disadvantage smaller or newer religions, including by simplifying procedures and lowering barriers to official recognition, in line with the principle of non-discrimination”.

Abortion on grounds of disability

Finally, the organisation, which represents around 600 million evangelical Christians, called on Austria to bring its legislation more into line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The WEA wished to “reiterate our concerns about the discriminatory treatment of unborn children suspected of having a disability, who are more likely to be aborted than other unborn babies. We urge the government to revise the law relating to abortion”.

The World Evangelical Alliance has submitted dozens of proposals to countries at the Human Rights Council in recent years. The most recent interventions were directed at Bulgaria, Turkey, Spain and Italy, among others.