Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0023/00238.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 35KB | 617 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00238}
$Pretitle{376}
$Title{Austria
Basic Rights}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Federal Press Service}
$Affiliation{Embassy of Austria, Washington DC}
$Subject{austrian
party
austria
economic
political
social
federal
international
chambers
nations}
$Date{1988}
$Log{Alpine Training*0023801.scf
Table 2.*0023801.tab
}
Country:     Austria
Book:        Austria Facts and Figures
Author:      Federal Press Service
Affiliation: Embassy of Austria, Washington DC
Date:        1988

Basic Rights

     Most of the basic rights and freedoms guaranteed by the present Austrian
constitution were originally listed in the basic law passed in 1867 under the
AustroHungarian monarchy before being included in the constitution of the new
republic when it was drawn up in 1920. Legislation in the Second Republic has
always been based on the principles set out in the United Nations' Declaration
of Human Rights of 1948.

     In 1958, Austria became a signatory to the Council of Europe's Convention
for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Work is at
present under way on a reform of basic rights in order to avoid the risk of
any threat to human freedom from the conditions imposed by modern society.

     The federal constitution states that all citizens are equal before the
law. There may be no discrimination on the grounds of birth, sex, status,
class, religion, race or language and all citizens enjoy the right to be
elected to public office. Personal liberty is guaranteed. Arrest is possible
only on the strength of a warrant stating specific reasons and there are
similarly strict regulations concerning the rights of the individual's home
and the privacy of letters. The constitution also safeguards the complete
freedom of movement and property within the state boundaries as well as the
right to emigrate. No Austrian may be deprived of his lawful judge. Freedom of
association is guaranteed. Everyone has the right within the limits of the law
to express his opinion by word of mouth or in writing, print or by pictorial
representation. The press may be neither subjected to censorship nor
restricted by the licensing system. There is complete freedom of conscience
and religion, and knowledge and its teaching are free.

Jurisdiction

     Of paramount importance in the field of Austrian jurisdiction is the fact
that the administration of justice should be completely independent. The
constitution states specifically that judges are independent in the exercise
of their judicial function and that they can be neither dismissed nor
transferred.

     The institution of the lay assessor means that the people take part
directly in the administration of justice. The lay assessors or, in the event
of crimes entailing severe penalties, a jury, consider cases under the
guidance of a professional judge. A series of successive stages of appeal,
going if necessary as far as the supreme court, provides adequate insurance
against the possibility of legar error. The maximum penalty under Austrian law
is life imprisonment; there is no death penalty.

     The administrative court ensures the legality of all acts of public
administration while the constitutional court examines legislation to make
sure that there is no violation of the constitution. Any citizen who feels
that his rights have been violated by an administrative act or that his basic
rights as guaranteed by the constitution have been encroached on may appeal to
the administrative and constitutional courts.

Controlling bodies

     The central auditing authority scrutinizes the financial affairs of the
public administration, the nationalised industries and the social insurance
authorities. It investigates public expenditure - by the federal and
provincial authorities and by local councils in municipalities of over 20,000
inhabitants - to ensure that the taxpayer's money is being spent economically
and productively.

     The institution of the people's lawyer exists to register complaints
brought forward by anybody who feels that he or she has been treated unjustly
by any administrative authority. To facilitate the investigation of such
complaints the people's lawyers have an unlimited right to inspect
administrative records, and on the basis of their investigations they can
submit a recommendation to the authority concerned to the effect that the
injustice cited in the complaint be rectified. The people's lawyers are an
autonomous institution accountable only to the Nationalrat, to which they
submit an annual report. They form a collegiate body consisting of three
people's lawyers, with an annually rotating presidency. They are appointed on
the basis of recommendations by the three parties with the largest number of
seats in parliament. The law applying to the people's lawyers is an integral
part of the federal constitution.

The Armed Forces

[See Alpine Training: Austrian Armed Forces. Courtesy Embassy of Austria,
Washington DC.]

     In accordance with the terms of the comprehensive national defence plan,
the federal armed forces (Bundesheer) are designed to provide the following:

     - National military defence.

     - In addition to military defence: protection for those institutions
provided for by the constitution; guarantees for the performance of their
activities and for the democratic freedoms of the population; the maintenance
of domestic order and security in general.

     - Aid in the event of natural disasters or any other major catastrophe.

     - Aid in other countries at the request of international organisations or
the International League of Red Cross Societies.

     The federal president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and
disposal over them lies with the minister of national defence within the
limits of the authorisation conferred on him by the government.

     The federal armed forces are kept up to strength by means of compulsory
national service. Every Austrian man between the ages of 18 and 50 is liable
to military service.

     Basic military service lasts six months. In addition to this, all those
liable for service take part in subsequent reserve training totalling 60 days,
for special functions in addition up to 60 or 90 days, as part of the plan to
develop a militia reserve force.

     Anyone who objects to military service on grounds of conscience and is
exempted on these grounds must perform some alternative civilian form of
service.

     In accordance with current regional defence plans, the armed forces are
divided into an alert force, mobile territorial units and localised
territorials.

The Political Parties

     The political scene in the Second Republic has been dominated by the
Socialist Party (Sozialistische Partei Osterreichs - SPO) and the People's
Party (Osterreichische Volkspartei - OVP) which have achieved varying
majorities. Both have polled at least 40% of the vote in successive elections
to the Nationalrat. Apart from these two, only the Freiheitliche Partei
Osterreichs - FPO, or its predecessor, the Independents' Union (Verband der
Unabhangigen - VdU), the Communist Party (Kommunistische Partei
Osterreichs - KPO) and the Greens have been represented in parliament,
although the percentage of seats held by either party never exceeded 10%. In
1959 and in all successive general elections the communists did not succeed in
polling the minimum number of votes necessary for parliamentary
representation. The remarkably consistent distribution of parliamentary power
since 1945 may be regarded as a sign of political stability. Originally
prompted by the Austrians' determined reconstruction drive following world war
II, it has remained as a positive factor in political developments at home.

     There follow descriptions of each of the political parties represented in
the Nationalrat:

The Austrian Socialist Party (SPO)

     The Austrian Socialist Party, which has held a parliamentary majority and
therefore formed the government since 1970, was founded in 1889 by Victor