Austria

In January 2023, ODIHR delivered a Diagnostic Workshop to examine national structures and services to support victims of bias-motivated crime in Austria. Participants included representatives of the Federal Ministry of Justice (FMJ), the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office, the crime prevention departments of various local police departments and associations such as WEISSER RING, Neustart, ZARA, the anti-discrimination offices of Vienna and Styria and the Jewish Community of Vienna.

This "diagnostic workshop" served to deepen the understanding of national authorities regarding the interaction between law enforcement agencies and victims' organizations in order to ultimately achieve improvements for victims of hate crime at all levels. The two main areas of focus for the working meeting were respectful and sensitive treatment of victims, and the needs assessment and referral of victims of bias-motivated crime. These topics were determined in advance via a detailed analysis of online questionnaires completed by representatives of national authorities.

In March 2023, experts from the Austrian and German Ministries of Interior (MoIs) and the German task force against hate and hate speech participated in a two-day event to discuss hate crime and online hatred, with a focus on investigation, prosecution, prevention, data collection, training initiatives for the police and judiciary, and co-operation between the state and civil society. 

In June 2023, the MoI and FMJ organized a roundtable against hate crimes targeting LGBTIQ+ people in co-operation with representatives of the community in Austria. Following an initial data analysis, the roundtable contributed to developing measures to address hate crimes targeting LGBTIQ+ people. During the roundtable, the MoI presented the results of an exchange with Austria's Office for Crime Prevention and Victim Support of the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Head of the Diversity Unit of the Vienna Police Department. The roundtable led to the inclusion of "trans" as a subcategory of "gender" in the list of available bias motivations in the police flagging programme.

The MoI also organized a two-day workshop in November 2023 (co-funded by the European Commission) on planning and delivering public campaigns on hate crime and hate speech. The workshop was attended by 24 representatives from 15 EU Member States, Norway, the UK, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, the Council of Europe, the EU Commission and key stakeholders from the research and NGO sectors. 

Between October 2023 and October 2025, the MoI is conducting a quantitative and qualitative study of police work with the Austrian Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS), as well as on the analysis of possible preventive measures against hate crime and hate speech, funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG).