Unaccompanied minors arriving in Austria will be sent to an asylum seekers centre in Traiskirchen. Once the minor is in Traiskirchen, a legal representative will be appointed by the Ministry of Interior. There are two NGOs who work at the reception centre: “Diakonie Flüchtlingdienst” and “Verein Mensenrechte”. Employees of these NGOs who become representatives of unaccompanied minors have a Masters Degree in Law. They are appointed alternately to an unaccompanied minor, however, a correction can be made if this means that two members of the same family have different legal representatives.
When someone asks for asylum, the authorities check if another country is responsible. If the asylum authorities say that Austria is responsible for the asylum application, the minor will be transferred to a local authority (special facility for unaccompanied minors). The Youth Welfare Authorities that work on the level of the muncipalities act as guardian of unaccompanied minors. Guardianship over the minor will only be appointed to the Youth Welfare Authorities by the Court after six months. As mentioned in the definition of an unaccompanied minor, a representative will be appointed to the unaccompanied minor in case he or she is (re)unified with relatives (other than parents) or family members.
Guardians in other European Member States who want to transfer the actual care to the receiving guardian in Austria, have to find out which municipality will be responsible for the child to contact the responsible Youth Welfare Authorities. However, as guardianship for an unaccompanied minor is only appointed after six months, there is a risk that care cannot be transferred to the next guardian.
Guardians/representatives are advised to ask the Austrian authorities via their own authorities to which municipality an unaccompanied minor is sent upon arrival in Austria. With insights in these details, it would be possible to search for the (future) competent and responsible Youth Welfare Department to transfer relevant information to.
Contact
Diakonie Flüchtlingdienst
Steinergasse 3/12
1170 Wien
Tel: 0043.1.4026754
Fax: 0043.1.4026754
Email: fluechtlingsdienst@diakonie.at
Verein Menschenrechte
Geschäftsstelle Traiskirchen
Otto-Glöckel-Str. 24 (Haus 17)
A-2514 Traiskirchen
Tel: 0043.2552.508913
Fax: 0043.2552.508913
Email: east-ost@verein-menschenrechte.at
An NGO with a particular knowledge on unaccompanied minors and relevant organizations who work with unaccompanied minors throughout Austria, is:
Asylkoordination Österreich
Burggasse 81/7
A-1070 Wien
Tel: 0043.1.5321291
Fax: 0043.1.53212920
Email: asylkoordination@asyl.at