Since my youth I have been standing up for human rights, which are continuously under pressure from various sides. This is especially obvious in the area of asylum and aliens‘ law.

From 2011 onwards, I support asylum seekers through legal work and training courses. In doing so, I had to observe how legal conditions for persons applying for asylum were increasingly tightened and the political discourse was shifted further and further to the far right. Limits for the number of asylum applications, emergency decree, preventive detention – unthinkable at the beginning of my work.

It is my deep conviction that people of „foreign“ origin who find themselves in the thicket of Austrian asylum and aliens‘ law need professional legal advice and representation to assert their rights. Together with Julia Ecker, I see the opportunity to pursue contributing to the protection of human rights.

Before I successfully completed my diploma course in law, I started working as a legal advisor and representative for asylum seekers; from February 2013 to February 2018 I was head of the legal department of the NGO „Asyl in Not“.

Since 2015, when a particularly large number of people applied for asylum in Austria and human rights came under increasing pressure due to political developments, I give lectures and hold workshops on asylum and aliens‘ law. In 2016, my manual on asylum law „Asylrecht kompakt“ was published, which is now available in a second edition.

My doctors degree of law, in which I specialize in freedoms and human rights, is about to be completed. In addition to my legal work, I am pursuing a bachelor’s degree in history – to compensate for my legal work and convinced, that dealing with the past helps to cope with today’s problems and dangers.

Working for Julia Ecker enables me to support people looking for building a future in Austria. In the many years working for asylum seekers, I have learned to work under great pressure and in difficult situations, and to professionally assist people who need legal assistance.

By working on individual cases, preparing lectures and workshops and writing publications, I am continuously updated concerning recent legal developments. It is a great pleasure to work in the field of asylum and aliens‘ law and to convey complex legal issues to those who are affected by it or have to work with it.