By Susanne Gutsche, Vienna, Austria

VIENNA: Austrian government officials are up in arms over the issue of housing Nigerian and other African asylum seekers, with the government saying no village or city can be found to build a third asylum center for refugees.

Asylum shelter in Vienna, PIC: Susanne Gutsche

Some Austrian government ministers and city mayors have even suggested imprisoning asylum seekers the government has resolved the issue of providing additional accommodation.

Austrian law says that there have to be three housing centers for asylum seekers, and the construction of a third unit has sparked arguments in internal politics.

Besides the ongoing debates about additional housing, the situation of asylum seekers in Austria is already lamentable, with widespread allegations of racism and abuse.

A racism report released by Amnesty International in 2009 confirmed that people of different origin or with dark skin do notreceive the same rights as Austrians in public institutions. Racial discrimination and harassment by some elements of the police are part of the daily lives of minorities.

Emeka Sonday (19) from Nigeria was detained is one of the asylum seekers detained by Austrian authorities. Sonday arrived in Austria in 2008 after fleeing alleged political persecution in his home country. His asylum application was rejected, and he refused to go back to Nigeria and stayed remained in Austria illegally. He was arrested and jailed for five months.

“In jail you see people getting mad every day. They don’t act like human beings any more” says Sonday. Sonday said African asylum seekers sacrifice and take very long and hard journeys to seek asylum. All their hopes are based in Europe. Once they arrive, they are often treated like criminals and sometimes even locked up.

“It is extremely frustrating to be arrested without having committed a crime and face an absolutely uncertain future”, said Christos Papaioannou, project-coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières

Sonday said although he explained to Austrian authorities that he faced political persecution in Nigeria, Austrian authorities did not believe him.

“You know, the treatment of asylum seekers here in Austria is not very good. I would go home if I could, but I can’t”said Sonday.

The worst case of expulsion happened ten years ago, when Nigerian asylum seeker Marcus Omofuma was sent back to Lagos by plane. Even on the plane, Omofuma resisted repatriation to Nigeria and three Austrian policemen taped his mouth and nose with adhesive foil. Thirty minutes later, Omofuma was dead. The three policemen are still serving in the Austrian police force.

The European Union guidelines on the treatment of asylum seekers state: “Asylum (…) is granted to a person who is unable to seek protection in his/her country of citizenship and/or residence in particular for fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion”.

The Austrian Home Office, when asked about  Sonday’s situation said: “You see, Austria is a Constitutional State. More than 15,000 refugees sought asylum last year. We can’t help everybody. And if we don’t lock up those asylum seekers whose asylum claims have been refused, it would call into questionAustria as a Constitutional State”.

Furthermore, they said asylum seekers are free to come and go from the asylum centers until it is clear if Austria is responsible for their case, adding that the objective of the Home Office was to make sure that asylum seekers don’t disappear illegally.

“We have buildings similar to hotels, surrounded by parks and they have access to health services and advice in legal matters. They come to ask for protection”, explained the Home Office Minister’s spokesperson.

Asked whether it is not unjust for a person to be shut away without having committed a crime, the Home Secretary said  the question of housing asylum seekers is not a philosophical one.

The discussion about locking up asylum seekers came from Statistics which show a rise of crime in one of the villages where an asylum center is already established.

Crime has declined in the last few years but residents of the villages are still afraid of the potential crime. Right-wing politicians now intentionally use these fears and even exaggerate them because of the election campaign due in spring.