Investigating human rights The purpose of Section 15a of the Basic Provision Agreement is that the individual Laender provide temporary reception conditions to aliens who need help and protection proportionately to their population. The Laender are obligated to create and maintain the necessary infrastructure and to provide current data as soon as possible regarding the capacity utilisation of their facilities. The federal law that primarily regulates the reception conditions of asylum seekers in the proceedings for admission (Federal Basic Welfare Support Act 2005 determines the obligation of the Federal Government to create appropriate capacities for care for emergencies. It was and is apparent from reports in the media that for a long time, only two of the nine Laender fulfilled or are fulfilling the agreement under Section 15a (i.e. Vienna, Lower Austria). While this was always lamented by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, apparently suitable measures to enforce the agreement were never undertaken. Not all Laender fulfil obligations The Federal Ministry of the Interior was, however, aware of the problem: In 2009, it tried to establish a third reception centre with a capacity of 300 persons in Burgenland. The project failed due to massive resistance from the population and the Governor, who tried to exhaust all means to prevent this from happening. As at the time applications for asylum were decreasing (2009: 15,821, 2010: 11,012 – a minus of 30.4%), the Federal Ministry of the Interior apparently decided to no longer pursue the project. Since 2011, the number of refugees has been continually rising with applications for asylum going up as well (2011: 14,416, 2012: 17,413, 2013: 17,503, 2014: 28,027). Previously, however, there had been similarly high numbers of applications for asylum from 2001 to 2003 (2001: 30,127, 2002: 39,354 and 2003: 32,359). During those years, the Federal Government was obviously able to handle the accommodations, for which it was solely responsible at the time. After that, the numbers went down continuously until 2011. Applications for asylum rose sharply in 2014 In 2014, the Mayor of Traiskirchen and the Governor of Lower Austria pushed for relief for the reception centre in Traiskirchen by generating massive media attention. The occupancy capacity of 1,774 was not exceeded; the maximum occupancy figure of 480 that was circulated in the media was “only” a political agreement between the Federal Minister and the Governor of Lower Austria. Nevertheless, Traiskirchen is definitely the largest facility. There are up to 1,770 asylum seekers compared to 17,634 residents in Traiskirchen. In an ex-officio investigative proceeding of the reception centre in Traiskirchen, a commission of the AOB visited the facility in July 2014; at the time 1,222 persons lived there. The commission found the following conditions: too tight living quarters, no possibility for individual privacy, families housed directly next to single male individuals, limited occupational opportunities, a large number of children and adolescents (unaccompanied minor refugees) from Commissions visit Traiskirchen in July 2014 59