A/HRC/42/42/Add.2 45. According to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counter-terrorism, 296 Austrian-born persons are known to have actively taken part in conflict in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic. At the end of 2016, 280 of them were in Austria and were put under surveillance by the authorities.8 This number has since been shrinking, however, due to the consequent criminal prosecution and sentencing of suspects. 9 46. The fact that there are people living in Austria whose thinking is close to extremist ideology has been demonstrated by a study involving young people conducted by the authorities of the city of Vienna. Out of the 401 young people who were surveyed, 27 per cent showed positive feelings towards extremely religious people who were willing to go to war for their faith. These respondents viewed the West as the “suppressor”, and agreed that Islam had to be protected with violence.10 From 2014 to 2017, the 24-hour helpline for the prevention of extremism (see para. 31 above) was contacted 2,399 times. In over 40 per cent of cases brought to the service, the questions concerned religiously motivated extremism, a general predisposition to violence and intercultural issues. 47. In 2017, 63 individuals were in Austrian prisons due to their participation in terrorist associations. 11 The number of convictions under section 278 of the Penal Code had increased since 2015. Special security measures were taken and particular support services were offered to those in Austrian prisons considered to be jihadists. 12 Research on 39 former inmates with radicalized backgrounds, focusing on their imprisonment, their motives and their ideology, found that most of them were radicalized before their time in prison and did not have criminal records beforehand. It was shown that deradicalizing measures, including anti-violence training and political education provided by experts, organizations and programmes such as DERAD, had had positive effects.13 The work of organizations such as NEUSTART, which provides special services and legal support, had also been helpful. 48. Although mosques were commonly suspected to be a major locus of recruitment, a number of foreign fighters were recruited in public places, including parks, sports centres and local neighbourhoods, while many were recruited through online platforms. Both men and women were actively involved in recruitment, and children and young people were often targeted due to their vulnerability. B. Measures for foreign fighters 49. In line with its obligations under the human rights conventions it has ratified, Austria has the opportunity to address the phenomenon of foreign fighters through measures based on human rights principles and standards. Such measures could better enhance efforts to achieve deradicalization, to prevent violent extremism and to stem the flow of foreign fighters, while enhancing integration and promoting social cohesion for migrants and foreigners, who are often affected. However, the Working Group was concerned about some of the human rights implications of the measures taken to address the phenomenon of foreign fighters. 50. The Working Group notes that the majority of those in prison who had been convicted under section 278 of the Penal Code had been arrested and charged merely for posting messages on social media sympathizing with the aims of groups such as ISIL. For instance, a youth had been prosecuted under article 278b of the Code for posting a message 8 9 10 11 12 13 Michael Berger, “Polizisten im Visier der IS-Terrormiliz”, Kurier, 9 September 2016. Austria, Ministry of the Interior, Verfassungsschutzbericht 2016 (Vienna, 2016), p. 20. City of Vienna, Jugendliche in der offenen Jugendarbeit: Identitäten, Lebenslagen und abwertende Einstellungen (Vienna, 2016). “Dschihadismus: Deradikalisierung im Gefängnis”, ORF Steiermark, 14 June 2017. Austria, Ministry of Justice, “Radikalisierung im Strafvollzug: Justizminister Brandstetter setzt auf Know-How von internationalen Experten”, 23 April 2015. “Terrorismus: Weitere Maßnahmen zur Deradikalisierung in Justizanstalten nötig”, Vienna Online, 31 January 2017; Veronika Hofinger and Thomas Schmidinger, Endbericht zur Begleitforschung: Deradikalisierung im Gefängnis (Vienna, Institute for the Sociology of Law and Criminology, 2017). 9