The fundamental rights expert Michael Lysander Fremuth sees the uncertainty surrounding the properties of the Omikron variant of the coronavirus as currently the biggest question mark for vaccination requirements in Austria. In view of indications of reduced vaccination protection, the question may arise whether compulsory vaccination is really suitable as a measure to combat pandemics, said the Viennese law professor in the APA interview.
The APA spoke to the scientific director and professor of the Vienna Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Basic and Human Rights at the University of Vienna on the occasion of the International Day of Human Rights on December 10th. On the subject of mandatory vaccination, Fremuth said that he could only comment on previous media reports.
If the upcoming law for a general Covid-19 vaccination obligation is expected to be challenged, the Constitutional Court must examine three points in particular: Whether the vaccination obligation is a suitable means of ensuring general health, whether there are more lenient and equally effective means and whether the Measure is appropriate, stated the Cologne-based expert.
Fremuth said that compulsory vaccination is fundamentally permissible from the point of view of safeguarding fundamental rights. However, in view of the evidence of reduced vaccination protection for the Omikron variant, the question may now arise whether mandatory vaccination is still suitable as a measure to combat pandemics. “That means that the question of compulsory vaccination has to be constantly checked and, if necessary, readjusted.”
In principle, Fremuth assesses the general situation of fundamental and human rights in Austria and Europe as positive: “The standard in Austria is, if you compare it with the situation worldwide, quite good.” There is a need for adjustment, among other things, in the fight against increased femicides in Austria. Beyond the agreed violence protection package, greater awareness of the issue is needed.
As further sensitive subject areas where there is still a need for discussion and action despite the measures introduced or announced, Fremuth named the question of the general right to education in view of the widespread distance learning in view of the pandemic, which is still “at best rudimentary anchored” in Austria. basic social rights, the practice of deportation especially towards Afghanistan, the need for an independent complaints office for allegations against police officers, the fight against hate speech and the notorious overutilization in the Austrian penal institutions.
At the European level, Fremuth is particularly concerned about the recent examples of non-recognition of decisions by the European Court of Human Rights: Russia and Turkey are problematic cases here. What is new, however, is that a few weeks ago the Polish Constitutional Court also declared parts of the European Convention on Human Rights to be incompatible with the Polish constitution. “The fact that a state of the European Union is so strongly contradicting itself and openly declaring what the ECHR decides does not apply to us in parts. That is a new dimension that worries me very much. This significantly reduces the pan-European protection of fundamental rights.”
When asked about the current situation at the EU’s external border with Belarus, Fremuth, who was recently appointed a member of the Committee on Migration by the Executive Committee of the International Law Association (ILA), also expressed concern: “The situation is threatening and in some cases also worrying” . The ECtHR ordered Poland, Lithuania and Latvia to take care of the people stranded between the EU and Belarus. In any case, there is also a right to an asylum test and this is often not granted in the cases in question. “As far as push-backs occur, this is not permissible according to European and international law standards.”
Fremuth also sees a “remarkable shift in discourse” with regard to the establishment of border protection systems. “For a long time in the European Union it was said that we do not want to build fences and now there are very strong demands to support Poland, for example. That means: Europe is building fences again”. Europe is in a difficult situation, however, because Belarus, expressed very neutrally, regards migration as a “means for political formation”.
(Interview conducted by Andreas Stangl / APA)