An Austrian Federal government official has warned that the migrant camp at Traiskirchen is becoming a hotbed for radical Islamism and a “breeding ground for radicalization,” according to Die Presse.
Christian Konrad, the Austrian Federal governments Refugee coordinator has stated his dissatisfaction with the way the Traiskirchen migrant camp is being run. Of the 1,500 residents of the camp he said, “1100 of which are unaccompanied minors – all young boys,” and added that the centre was a prime “breeding ground for radicalization,” if no action is taken.
The Institute for Empirical Social Research (IFES) commissioned a study on behalf of the Austrian National Youth Council interviewing 66 underage migrants on various topics. They found that 62 per cent of those they talked to were not in school, an apprenticeship or any other form of training and in fact they were told by the boys that their days were spent mostly idle with nothing to do.
Integration of migrants has come under fire in recent weeks as a new study was released by the European Commission showing that a majority of people in cities like Athens and Rome believe that migrants are not integrating and that their quality of life and living standards are declining as a result.
The IFES report backs up these feelings as only 49 per cent of the migrants surveyed attended any courses for learning German or integration while almost a quarter of them had never been to any courses at all.
The study also breaks down the country of origin of the migrants in Traiskirchen putting another hole in the theory they are all refugees from Syria. The largest segment of underage boys are from Afghanistan with 65 per cent, while Syrians by stark contrast make up only 17 per cent of the migrant arrivals. The rest of the migrants report being a mix of various ethnicities including Iraqi, Iranian, Bangladeshi and Sudanese.
Most of the boys involved in the study were also aged 16-19 dispelling another mainstream myth that all underage migrants are young children.
One teenage boy summed up his day to day life saying: “”I have nothing to do, except for breakfast, lunch, dinner. Otherwise I sleep all the time, waiting for a decision,” on the asylum process which can take months.
Traiskirchen is by far the largest migrant centre in Austria. Traiskirchen is located just 20km south, outside the city of Vienna proper and to locals has become synonymous with sex attacks and violence leading many to move from the town altogether. An incident that happened last year made it back into the headlines when a 17-year-old resident of the asylum centre brutally raped a 72-year-old woman and was sentenced to only 20 months thus avoiding possible deportation.
The full IFES study can be read in German here: