07/12/2015 President
On 4 December, Anne Brasseur, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), paid a working visit to Austria. Her visit focused on the No Hate campaign of the Council of Europe as well as on the refugee crisis.
In Vienna, she visited the Democracy Workshop of the Austrian Parliament where she had discussions about cyber-mobbing and No Hate Speech with children. “The “Demokratiewerkstatt” (Democracy Workshop) is an excellent initiative that could be an inspiration for other national Parliaments. It helps children understand the role of Parliaments in an interactive way. It is extremely important to educate children on democracy and the functioning of the institutions and bring them in contact with politics and political representatives,” Ms Brasseur said.
Concerning the handling of the refugee crisis, Ms Brasseur visited the first reception centre for refugees in Traiskirchen and was shown two integration projects. The first project, “Verein Lobby 16”, aims at helping unaccompanied young refugees find their way into working life by accompanying them through apprenticeships. The other project, “Kontaketpool Wien”, facilitates intercultural contacts and activities.
“It is of course necessary to welcome refugees with appropriate reception conditions and I was glad to see the efforts made to improve the reception centre in Traiskirchen. However, we are faced with a much longer lasting challenge, and that is integration. Refugees and migrants have to become active members of our societies. We cannot afford to marginalise them and we cannot afford to treat them simply as temporary guests.
I was impressed by the outstanding work done by “Verein Lobby 16” and others that I met. This work, as with many of the support activities for migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, can only be accomplished thanks to a large pool of remarkable volunteers. Integration is a two way process involving migrants and their host society. All initiatives helping migrants find their place in our societies are crucial for making this integration process successful,” Ms Brasseur concluded.