In 2015 Commission 6, which is responsible for Traiskirchen Initial
Reception Centre, carried out six visits to the facility, which is designed
to accommodate 1,800 people and which in January of this year
housed 1,100 unaccompanied minor refugees alone. Although reliable
figures are not available, the overall goal is to provide adequate
accommodation for 8,000 unaccompanied minor refugees. The
commissions focusing on unaccompanied minor refugees also visited
the federal support facilities in Reichenau an der Rax (Lower Austria),
Erdberg (Vienna), Thalham (Upper Austria) and Leoben (Styria).
The situation at the Traiskirchen Initial Reception Centre was
particularly critical from July to September 2015. In August, a
delegation consisting of the commission members and the AOB spoke
to unaccompanied minor refugees who were living as homeless
persons and subsequently in tents on the grounds of the Traiskirchen
Initial Reception Centre. Also affected were children and adolescents
who had not even been registered and who were sleeping out in the
vineyards or on the ground directly adjacent to the grounds of the
Traiskirchen Initial Reception Centre, or spending days with helpful
citizens of Traiskirchen. There were various reports of encroachments
on these children and adolescents. Had it not been for the assistance
of private individuals and civil society, they would have had to spend
high summer without food and water, wearing the clothes they had
worn throughout their period of flight.
Homeless minors
All unaccompanied minor refugees, to whom sleeping space could
not be assigned in a building, were in a position of serious
endangerment in terms of children’s welfare. This included 14-yearolds and children and adolescents who urgently required medical or
therapeutic care. It was thanks to the city of Vienna that during a
period of urgent need, all young unaccompanied minor refugees,
along with several older girls, were transferred from the Traiskirchen
Initial Reception Centre to an accommodation which fulfils the
reception conditions under the Basic Provision Agreement. During this
phase, Commission 6 and civil society provided lists of names, made
contact with the regional government of Lower Austria as the locally
responsible authority for child and youth welfare and protection, and
cross-checked them against lists held by the district authority of the
city of Baden. For all cases known to the NPM by name, the district
authority took action on the grounds that delay would involve risk and
accepted these children and adolescents into Lower Austrian
accommodation which fulfils the reception conditions. In most cases,
places were made available in newly established institutions and
facilities. The others were given at least a bed within the Traiskirchen
Initial Reception Centre. Several minor refugees for whom individual
solutions were being sought could no longer be found at the
Traiskirchen Initial Reception Centre by the competent authorities for
child and youth welfare and protection, as they had fled onward in a
state of despair. In some cases, it was possible to complete
Help provided on caseby-case basis in
instances where
endangerment already
exists
68
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