Denmark wants to deport asylum seekers out of Europe
Denmark, famous for its toughness on immigration, on Thursday approved a government bill that allows migrants seeking asylum to be sent to a country outside Europe that will act as a subcontractor, despite criticism, especially from the United Nations.. The text approved by Parliament, supported by the right and the extreme right, was adopted by 70 votes in favor and 24 against, but its application will only be possible when a country agrees to receive a reception center for asylum seekers.
This is the latest anti-immigration initiative of the “social democratic” government of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen that aims to discourage migrants from setting foot in the rich Nordic country.
The text establishes that the asylum seeker remains in another country, even if refugee status is granted.. The center-left Danish government currently applies one of the most restrictive immigration policies in Europe with the official goal of reaching “zero refugees”. This policy includes the withdrawal of residence permits for Syrians whose regions of origin are in a safe situation and the tightening of an anti-“ghetto” law to limit the number of “non-Western” inhabitants in the neighborhoods.-
According to the bill, all applicants for asylum in Denmark, once registered and with some rare exceptions -such as a serious illness-, will be sent to a reception center outside the European Union (EU).. If refugee status is not obtained, the frustrated migrant will be required to leave the host country. “But in the government's project, those who obtain the right of asylum could not 'return' to Denmark, but would simply have refugee status in the third country,” says Martin Lemberg-Pedersen, a specialist in migration issues at the University of Denmark. Copenhagen. The entire procedure will be entrusted to the third country in question, yes, after payment by Denmark.
Egypt, Eritrea or Rwanda, among the candidates
So far, no country has agreed to such a project, but the government says it is discussing it with between five and 10 that it did not identify.. Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia circulate as candidates in the Danish press. But it would be especially with Rwanda – which for a time considered hosting asylum seekers on Israel's behalf – where the discussions would be most advanced.
At the end of April, a protocol of agreement on asylum and migration was signed, without mentioning the outsourcing of the procedure. Of course, the system “must be established within the framework of international conventions. It is a precondition for an agreement” with another country, Migration Minister Mattias Tesfaye told AFP.. Last month, Tesfaye said it would not necessarily be a democracy “as we understand it.”
The Danish project shows the absolute change of the Danish social democracy regarding migration, embodied by Mette Frederiksen. It generalizes to almost the entire political spectrum proposals that were previously reserved for the extreme right, says political scientist Kasper Hansen, a professor at the University of Copenhagen.. Five years after approving a controversial law that allowed the seizure of valuables from migrants arriving in Denmark, which was rejected by the whole world although it has been little applied, the authorities continue their deterrence strategy. Only 761 people obtained asylum in 2019 and 600 in 2020, compared to more than 10,000 in 2015. Regarding its population, Denmark receives ten times fewer refugees than its German or Swedish neighbors.
“This project is the continuation of a symbolic policy, in the style of Donald Trump and his wall,” said the secretary general of the NGO ActionAid Denmark, Tim Whyte.. This new twist worries international observers. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) considers it “contrary to the principles on which international cooperation on refugees is based”. One fear is that this drastic and restrictive Danish attitude will trigger a domino effect in Europe.