The Constitutional Court (VfGH) has again overturned a decision of the Federal Administrative Court for insufficient attention to the best interests of the child. In the specific case, the children were not asked about their situation during the procedure, according to a decision of the Constitutional Court. The Federal Administrative Court must now conduct a new investigation and decide again.
The specific case concerned a Kazakh mother with two children born in 2009 and 2011 respectively. The family applied for international protection in Austria at the end of December 2012. The Federal Office of Immigration and Asylum rejected this in 2018, while the Federal Administrative Court rejected complaints in 2022.
Do not expose yourself to relevant risks
In its decision at the time, the court stated “that the allegations of the flight applicants were not credible due to numerous contradictory statements and that the applicants in Kazakhstan were not exposed to … relevant risks”. When examining whether they are protected against deportation because of their long stay in Austria and their fundamental right to private and family life, the result was also negative.
No outstanding academic performance
Among other things, the court cited the mother’s lack of knowledge of German, noting that the children now speak German, “but do not have outstanding academic performance in Austria”. It is pointed out that the older child in secondary school has a four in German and the younger child in primary school has a three. “All in all, despite the nine-year stay, no strengthening of integration … in Austria can be made credible and no objective reasons can be drawn from her private life that would stand in the way of a decision to return.”
Child welfare “determined only very superficially”
The family, in turn, argued that the two children “spoke High German and dialect exceptionally well”, had many friends and had good contacts in the community. In addition, the Federal Administrative Court “only very superficially and insufficiently determined” the well-being of the child.
Minors were not questioned about the situation
The Constitutional Court also saw it this way: the investigative work of the Federal Administrative Court regarding aspects of the child’s welfare was insufficient, “particularly because the two minor (then aged 10 and 12) complainants did not comment on their situation at the hearing of December 20, 2021 were questioned and the mother of the two minor complainants was only insufficiently questioned on this subject during the hearing.” It is therefore “incomprehensible how the Federal Administrative Court … assess the degree of integration … of the minor complainants.
For the chairman of the child welfare committee set up following controversial deportation decisions, Irmgard Griss, it is “incomprehensible that people do not go into more detail about how the children are doing, what that means for them, to what extent the children have learned the language, go to school and how they manage there”. All this must be checked, so Griss in the Ö1 “Morgenjournal”.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
