Austria has deported two men to Somalia for the first time in nearly 20 years, the interior ministry confirmed on Tuesday, September 2.
The pair, who had been convicted of criminal offences in Austria, arrived in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, earlier in the day.
Officials said the men had been sentenced for a range of crimes, including drug-related offences.
Somali nationals constituted the third-largest group of asylum seekers in the country during the first seven months of this year, with 648 applications submitted.
The approval rate for Somali asylum cases currently stands at 44%. So far in 2025, 463 Somali citizens have been granted asylum, while 334 received subsidiary protection, and 12 were issued humanitarian residence permits.
The interior ministry described the move as part of a “consistent, tough, and fair asylum policy”.
The operation follows Austria’s first deportation to Syria in years, carried out earlier this summer, and comes amid government plans to resume deportations to Afghanistan.
However, the European Court of Human Rights recently blocked the removal from Austria of a Syrian national with multiple criminal convictions.
