From forced quarantine to return centre: forced resettlement of refugees from Traiskirchen

For two weeks, the inhabitants of the Traiskirchen first reception centre had to wait again under forced quarantine with police confinement after corona infections had again appeared in the camp. According to the latest information at least 12 people in Traiskirchen tested positive for Covid-19. In spite of all experiences so far, in spite of the fact that one person who lived in Traiskirchen has already died of Covid-19, the authorities continue to put the health and lives of refugees at risk by continuing to keep them in the camp. And instead of effective health protection, there is repression through confinement.

However, instead of logically refraining from this practice, the situation is now taking a completely different fateful direction: several people in Traiskirchen - including refugees from Nigeria and Iran - have received notices instructing them to move to the return centre at Bürgelkopf in Fieberbrunn, Tyrol, following the quarantine of Traiskirchen. The so-called return centres, of which there are three in Austria so far, have been under massive criticism for some time. For these facilities serve no other purpose than to force people who have fled and whom the state has not yet been able to deport to leave Austria through social isolation and degrading living conditions. Or to no longer appear in the system by going into hiding - the main thing is that the people disappear. The people affected by this inhumane system also defend themselves against it: In the summer of 2019 the inhabitants of the Bürgelkopf Return Centre went on a Huger strike for weeks, which found broad support in Tyrolean civil society and beyond. They demanded the closure of the return centres, housing under humane conditions and the resumption of their asylum procedures.

Now the inhuman system of return centres is to be re- by resettlement of people from Traiskirchen.

The Initiative Against Return Centres demands:

No forced resettlement to the Fieberbrunn / Bürgelkopf center and other return centers!

Closure of all return centres!

Instead of the undignified relocation of people: Living under humane and self-determined conditions, housing instead of camps for all!