VIENNA, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Austrian Interior Minister Herbert Kickl has strongly rejected a new UN report criticizing his government's asylum system, arguing that it "more than fulfills" all human rights standards.
Kickl made the comments to the Austria Press Agency on Thursday, joining his Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in denouncing the 19-page report that alleges numerous problems exist with Austria's handling of asylum seekers.
"If the UN wants to criticize asylum systems, I think there are more than enough countries in the world where they should look very closely. Austria definitely does not count here," the minister said.
Austria more than meets all of its human rights obligations, he said, and its support and guidance "is of the highest level."
He said he does not know what the inspectors who wrote the report were expecting, but that to him it is clear that "we will not be offering a four or five-star standard."
The report, based on observations made by experts last October, alleges among other things that asylum seekers are treated with mistrust, that they have a lack of legal options available to them, and that Austria places a focus on speeding up asylum and deportation procedures.
