We often encounter beggars in everyday life – mostly sitting quietly at the kerbside holding out a tin cup. This mere fact is often sufficient for the media and politics to talk about a “nuisance of beggary”. Meanwhile, federal states within Austria have adopted far-reaching laws, prohibiting begging. According to the jurisdiction of the Austrian Constitutional Court only begging “in silence” must remain permitted. Beggars who “organise themselves” or act “persistently”, although these ascriptions are not further defined, are guilty of an offence according to these laws. To which extent this complies with human rights principles and whether beggars experience an equal treatment within the practice of law will be discussed by Christian SCHMAUS (Lawyer), Gabriela SZEBERENYI (Vinzenzgemeinschaft), Marion THUSWALD (“Bettellobby”, Beggars Lobby) and Barbara WEICHSELBAUM (University of Vienna, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights). Further invited is a representative of the Federal Ministry for Interior Affairs.

The discussion will be moderated by Sonja Fercher (freelance journalist).

The event is held in German!

Furthermore we would like to point out that the recordings of previous HUMAN RIGHTS TALKS are available at http://zige.tv/.

Following the discussion, the Research Platform “Human Rights in the European Context” and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights would like to invite you to join the subsequent reception.

The series of events takes place in cooperation with juridikum, journal for critique | Justice | society, derStandard.at and zige.tv

The admission is free, for logistical reasons we ask you to register at uhznaevtugfgnyx@havivr.np.ng!