Status: 08/26/2022 1:02 p.m
Austria’s interior minister Karner wants to deter potential migrants and fight smuggling with a campaign. According to Karner, the asylum system is almost at its breaking point. Criticism comes from the coalition partner.
ÖVP Interior Minister Gerhard Karner has hardly missed an opportunity to warn that the asylum system could soon be overloaded. So also during the week in the ORF: “We have record numbers of asylum applications. There were 42,000 in 2022 by the end of July. That’s more than in the whole of last year.”
presented online campaign
That is why Karner’s ministry presented an online campaign. It is intended to prevent potential asylum seekers from making their way to Europe. The campaign will primarily be run on Facebook, Instagram and in Google Ads in eight countries. The focus is on Morocco, Tunisia and India.
“One wheel that needs to be turned is that we inform potential migrants in the countries of origin accordingly. Here we must not leave the interpretation sovereignty to the smugglers. I am convinced that this is one hundred percent correct.”
“You Can’t Stay”
For example, pictures show a border soldier with a shepherd dog standing in front of a border fence with barbed wire, with the words “There is no way” underneath. Other pictures read in different languages: “You cannot stay” or “You will fail”.
The Viennese migration researcher Judith Kohlenberger criticizes: “There is no evidence whatsoever for the success of such information campaigns.”
The idea of an anti-asylum campaign is not new in Austria. One was introduced in March 2016. Money is an important factor: the online deterrence cost 260,000 euros this time. “You just have to realize that for this money you could take in numerous Afghan women and girls and guarantee them access to education here,” said Kohlenberger.
Criticism also from the coalition partner
Not only researchers are skeptical about the campaign. Criticism also comes from the coalition partner. About the Greens Ewa Ernst-Dziedzic: “We have to create legal escape routes. The Greens and the People’s Party have agreed that in the government program, and give people the opportunity to apply for a work visa.”
Because Europe needs workers, says the Green MEP:
We have a labor shortage in Europe. In other words, entering into cooperation with the countries where people want to set off is more expedient than creating this inhumane situation at our external borders and running online campaigns with propaganda policies of deterrence, which in my opinion are of little use will.
Many of the people who come to Austria move on and don’t stay at all, says Ernst-Dziedzic. In addition, every asylum application must be examined, which is a human right.
Interior Minister Karner from the ÖVP replies: “We must prevent people from crossing the Mediterranean, threatening to drown or cramming themselves into trucks and threatening to suffocate.”
Green politician: online campaign not the right way
Keeping people from fleeing dangerously is a legitimate goal, says Green Party politician Ernst-Dziedzic. However, the Interior Ministry’s online campaign is not the right approach. It’s better, says Ernst-Dziedzic: “If people are in contact with refugees and migrants from their own countries, who tell them about this very often life-threatening path and then recommend them, for example, not to go on it. “
Once again it can be seen that immigration issues lie between the Turkish ÖVP and the Green Worlds.
“No way, no chance”: The Austrian anti-asylum campaign
Jean-Marie Magro, ARD Vienna, August 25, 2022 11:42 a.m