In a report to the UN Human Rights Council, they also address human trafficking issues and denounce discrimination against unborn children with disabilities.
Vienna, Austris. / Photo: [link]Joshi Milestoner[/link], Unsplash CC0.
The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA); the European Evangelical Alliance (EEA); the Evangelical Alliance of Austria (EAÖ), and Herzwerk, an initiative for people in prostitution; recently submitted a joint report to the UN Human Rights Council ahead of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Austria scheduled for January 2026.
The report addresses the situation of freedom of religion in the country, and warns about the human trafficking and exploitation in Austria, as well as the discriminatory treatment of unborn children who are suspected of having a disability.
Freedom of religion is guaranteed in Austria, but the state established 3 categories of recognized religious institutions.
The highest level of recognition is that of “legally recognized church or religious society”; then there are the “state-registered religious denominational communities, which has legal personality but not that of a public corporation.
The third category includes the “religious organizations”, that do not qualify for either of the above statuses, but may apply to become associations, with the same legal status as other civil society groups.
The report denounces that “the extremely high requirements (minimum number of members of two per thousand of the population, and being recognised as a denominational community in Austria for at least 10 years) make it practically impossible for religious groups to be legally recognised as a church”.
They stress that “this penalises both small religious groups and interdenominational associations such as the EAÖ”.
Moreover, those that do not fulfil the requirements of the law to be officially recognised as churches cannot “bring pastors from abroad into the country with a special residence permit; receive tax-deductible contributions,ev en if they are registered as associations”.
The Alliances call on the government to “revise the recognition of religious organisations to end the hierarchy of institutional recognition”, ensuring that “legal recognition of religious organisations does not exclude small and new religions”.
In the report, the Alliances “applaud that Austria has codified a non-punishment provision to protect victims of exploitation from punishment for crimes they were forced to commit”.
However, “reports from the ground indicate that the provision is rarely used” and that results “in victims being convicted of and punished for crimes they were forced to commit in the course of their exploitation”.
They also explain that “identification of victims of trafficking in Austria continues to be problematic”, specially due to “the illegal employment or residence status of people being exploited, which makes victims fearful or unwilling to cooperate with the police”.
Furthermore, although surrogacy is banned in Austria, Alliances warn that “it can lead to human trafficking and the sale of children from other European Union countries”. Those children trafficked through surrogacy “risk being marginalised”.
That is why the recommend the Austrian government to “adopt civil society organisations as partners in the crucial task of victim identification”, and “focus on the protection needs of victims of trafficking to offer support and protection, regardless of cooperation with criminal prosecution”.
The report also urges to “implement residence permits for trafficking survivors, who are not eligible for asylum, under the category “personal reasons”.
In Austria, “an abortion is not punishable if [...] there is a serious risk that the child will be severely mentally or physically damaged and the abortion is performed by a doctor”.
“This means that people who are suspected of having a disability are therefore more vulnerable and likely subject to be aborted than other unborn people”, says the report.
For the Alliances, “this unequal treatment should be abolished”, so that they recommend to “eliminate the discriminatory treatment of unborn children who are suspected of having a disability by revising the law relating to abortion”.
You can read the full report here.
[analysis]
[title]Join us to make EF sustainable[/title]
[photo][/photo]
[text]At Evangelical Focus, we have a sustainability challenge ahead. We invite you to join those across Europe and beyond who are committed with our mission. Together, we will ensure the continuity of Evangelical Focus and our Spanish partner Protestante Digital in 2025.
Learn all about our #TogetherInThisMission initiative here (English).
[/text][/analysis]
Las opiniones vertidas por nuestros colaboradores se realizan a nivel personal, pudiendo coincidir o no con la postura de la dirección de Protestante Digital.
Si quieres comentar o