In addition, he has instructed the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum (BFA) to investigate further cases from Afghanistan, he said in a statement to the APA on Thursday.
In any case, he will “coordinate closely at the European level and continue to work hard on this issue with the experts from the Interior Ministry,” said Karner.
FPÖ party leader Herbert Kickl called on the ÖVP in a press release “not just to talk big, but to finally get things done.” There are “sufficient opportunities” for deportations to Afghanistan, he said, referring to asylum seekers who have committed crimes. He accused the ÖVP of “total failure across the board.”
“Supreme court rulings are supreme court rulings and they must be recognized. Legal interpretations are created, facts are created, and they must be followed,” said Social Affairs Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) on the sidelines of a press conference when asked regarding the Constitutional Court decision. How the decision is then implemented will be up to the responsible ministries. Rauch stressed that he had not dealt with the detailed question.
ÖVP and SPÖ for deportation of criminal Afghan asylum seekers
Since the radical Islamist Taliban came to power in October 2021, neither Austria nor other EU countries have deported Afghans. However, the ÖVP and SPÖ recently spoke out in favor of deporting criminal Afghan asylum seekers to their homeland, and other European countries, including Germany, have also discussed resuming deportations following several acts of violence.
In a ruling published on Wednesday, the Constitutional Court ruled that deportations to Afghanistan are permissible once more – at least in some cases – and justified this with, among other things, an improved security situation since the Taliban took power. Specifically, the case concerned a young Afghan to whom the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum had granted neither asylum nor subsidiary protection. The Federal Administrative Court confirmed this decision, once morest which the man lodged an appeal with the Constitutional Court. However, the Constitutional Court also considers the decision to be permissible.
Individual situation important for decision
In principle, however, the procedures depend heavily on the individual situation of the person concerned. In the current case, for example, the constitutional judges noted that the man had a good family network in his home country and a solid economic environment.
According to human rights organizations, the situation in Afghanistan in general remains precarious, with the rights of women and minorities in particular being severely curtailed by the Taliban. In addition, arbitrary arrests are a regular occurrence, including of former government officials. The humanitarian situation has also worsened, with the UN reporting that almost 24 million people in Afghanistan are currently dependent on humanitarian aid.
