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SYRIA

Denmark reverses residence decisions for hundreds of Syrian refugees

A large number of refugees from Syria who had their asylum status in Denmark revoked have since seen those decisions overturned, according to official figures.

People in Denmark protest in April 2021 against repatriation of Syrian refugees.
People in Denmark protest in April 2021 against repatriation of Syrian refugees. Photo: Philip Davali/Ritzau Scanpix

Hundreds of Syrian refugees have been informed that their residence permit was revoked or their application rejected since the Danish government determined conditions in the Damascus area had “improved.” 

However, in 2022, the Danish Refugee Appeals Board (Flygtningenævnet) has reversed the decision of the Danish Immigration Service (Udlændingestyrelsen) in 71 percent of Syrian cases addressed this year and allowed the refugees to stay, according to data supplied by the former agency to newspaper Dagbladet Information.

Between January and May, the Appeals Board, which issues binding decisions when applicants appeal a determination from the Immigration Service, overturned Immigration’s decision in 54 out of 76 cases and granted continued residence permits. 

That represents an increase in the proportion of turnovers compared to December 2021, when 43 percent of decisions were successfully appealed.

At the time, Ib Hounsgaard Trabjerg, chairman of the Appeals Board, described the rate of reversal as too high — “not least for the sake of those people who find their residence permits revoked or refused, creating uncertainty about their situation,” he said.

In a written comment to Information, Danish Immigration Service deputy director Henrik Thomassen said that the agency closely adheres to Appeal Board practice. It also stays updated on background information relating to European Court of Human Rights verdicts.

“To the extent that principal guidelines can be drawn from this, we adapt our practices accordingly,” Thomassen wrote.

A lag of around six months between Immigration Agency and Appeals Board decisions can mean additional information is available at the time decisions may be reversed, he noted.

In January this year, then-immigration minister Mattias Tesfaye was berated at the EU parliament by all but the most right wing MEPs for the Danish government’s insistence that it was safe enough in the Damascus area to repatriate some Syrian refugees to the region.

The policy has led to the withdrawal of asylum status from many Syrians in Denmark, condemning them to stays in the country’s infamous departure or expulsion centres.

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IMMIGRATION

Relocation of women from Danish expulsion centre ‘could take months’

A decision to move single women from Denmark’s controversial Kærshovedgård departure centre to a different facility could take two months to implement, the Danish Immigration Service has said.

Relocation of women from Danish expulsion centre 'could take months'

The Ministry of Immigration and Integration recently announced that a group of single women will be relocated from the Kærshovedgård departure centre to another departure centre, Avnstrup.

The decision was made partly to “address reports of episodes where women have been subjected to harassment and unwanted sexual contact at Kærshovedgård”, the ministry said in a statement at the time.

But the Danish Immigration Service told newswire Ritzau on Friday that it will take around two months before the women can be moved.

A decision must be made on whether facilities at Avnstrup must be adapted to be able to accommodate the women there, the agency said.

Some 18 reports of sexual harassment have been filed at Kærshovedgård since 2016, according to Ritzau. All but one of the reports were also filed with police, the agency said.

READ ALSO: Danish research reveals strain on refugees since country’s ‘paradigm shift’

The numbers do not necessarily only relate to incidents targeting women and there is variation in their character and severity, the Immigration Service also noted.

Avnstrup, which is operated by the Danish Red Cross on behalf of the Danish Immigration Service, is staffed around the clock and primarily accommodates families including children who do not have the legal right to reside in Denmark.

The Kærshovedgård facility is operated by the Danish prison service, Kriminalforsorgen. It is one of two deportation centres in Denmark used to house rejected male and female asylum seekers who have not agreed to voluntary return, as well as persons with so-called ‘tolerated stay’ (tålt ophold) status.

This includes people who have not committed crimes but have no legal right to stay in Denmark, for example due to a rejected asylum claim; as well as foreign nationals with criminal records who have served their sentences but are awaiting deportation.

The residents do not have permission to reside in Denmark but many cannot be forcibly deported because Denmark has no diplomatic relations or return agreements with their home countries.

A longstanding expulsion facility in operation since 2016, Kærshovedgård has recently received renewed media attention in Denmark after a film highlighted the plight of rejected asylum seekers trapped at the centre.

It first became prominent in the mid-2010s, when it received criticism for imposing conditions that could lead to mental illnesses in residents. Around 250 people currently live there.

READ ALSO: ‘Unbearable’: New film reveals life at Denmark’s controversial deportation centre

Media in Denmark have in recent months reported numerous instances of problems at the facility, which is located 13 kilometres from Ikast in Jutland.

Five residents were charged in August 2023 for possession and sale of narcotics.

During a raid on the centre in November, police found cannabis, a taser, an illegal switchblade knife and counterfeit Euro banknotes.

Later the same week, a resident was charged and detained by police for endangering others after allegedly firing a shot inside a room at the centre, police said.

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