Posted on 04/12/2002 10:42:59 AM PDT by It'salmosttolate
Denmark under fire from UN for tough asylum laws
Andrew Osborn
Wednesday April 10, 2002
The Guardian
The Danish government was under growing international pressure last night to water down new hardline immigration rules which critics say are racist and will turn the country into a fortress.
The row is a severe embarrassment for the country's centre-right coalition, which swept to power last November, because it comes as Denmark is trying to burnish its image before taking over the EU's rotating presidency in July.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has written to the government, questioning the legality of the plans under international law.
The governments of Sweden, Belgium and France have also sent a joint letter expressing their "profound concern" about the legislation.
The draft bill currently before parliament would give Denmark some of the toughest asylum rules in the EU and put paid to the country's famous liberal credentials.
Permanent resident permits will be granted after seven years instead of three at present, and full welfare benefits will be denied for the longer period.
Denmark's definition of a refugee will also be changed. From now on it will only accept those it is legally obliged to under international conventions.
It will also seek to return the few refugees it agrees to accept to their country of origin "if the situation changes so that they will no longer be persecuted" and will do all it can to ban the practice of family reunification (immigration by marriage).
If, as expected, the new legislation is passed by parliament there will be no legal right to reunification with a spouse at all, and no immigrants under the age of 24 will be allowed to bring their wife or husband into Denmark.
The UNHCR has sent a 10-page critique of the proposals, seen by the Guardian, to the Danish government.
The report savages almost every aspect of the new laws.
Officials say they are worried by "just about everything" and the critique says that the new hardline policy "gives rise to an overall concern".
"Our concern stems from the aspects of the proposal which together cast refugees and immigrants in a negative light," it says.
"UNHCR has already expressed its preoccupation about the tone of the asylum debate in Denmark. It is important to... avoid feeding into prejudices and generalisations about immigrants."
"Specific aspects of the bill and commentary appear inconsistent with international refugee and human rights law."
Denmark, where immigrants account for just 5% of the 5.3 million population, has traditionally been one of Europe's strongest supporters of refugees. It was the first country to sign the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its foreign aid budget is among the highest in Europe.
But the arrival in power of a Liberal-led coalition backed by the far-right Danish People's party has changed all that, and Bertel Haarder, the country's new hardline integration minister, has alarmed refugee groups.
The government has already tried and failed to shut down the Copenhagen-based Danish Centre for Human Rights. (After a public backlash, it was allowed to stay open with a much smaller budget.)
And earlier this month Mr Haarder suggested that immigrants themselves should be blamed for their inability to integrate into society.
"Integration problems are more often than not caused by the intolerance of the immigrant parents themselves who reject the thought of their children becoming fully integrated into mainstream Danish daily life," he said.
Mimicking the late US president John F Kennedy, he said that immigrants should "ask not what Denmark can do for you but what you can do for Denmark".
A spokesman for Mr Haarder said last night that the growing international criticism was based on "misunderstandings".
A Dutch leader was questioning the easy immigration policies of his country a couple days ago, this must be the answer. Can't wait to see what they have to say about Australia.
The link was : http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/a3af2c3736f6a.htm Don't try to click, it is gone to Post Heaven
Anyone has it archived?
So even if the thread has been deleted from FR (it has) you could track it if the posters had the brains to post an article by its correct title.
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