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IMMIGRATION

Denmark and Rwanda move forward on asylum seeker transfer plan

Denmark and Rwanda on Friday said they would move forward on a plan which would see asylum seekers in Denmark transferred to an offshore facility in Rwanda while their claims are processed.

Denmark and Rwanda move forward on asylum seeker transfer plan
Danish Immigration Minister Kaare Dybvad Bek and Minister for Foreign Development Flemming Møller Mortensen with Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta after signing a new deal to move forward on a plan to transfer asylum seekers between the two countries. Photo: Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix

The two countries signed a joint statement on bilateral cooperation which declared they were “exploring the establishment of a program through which spontaneous asylum seekers arriving in Denmark may be transferred to Rwanda for consideration of their asylum applications.”

It would also include “the option of settling in Rwanda,” the statement said.

The declaration was published on the website of Denmark’s Ministry of Immigration and Integration.

It goes a step further than an earlier partnership agreement, announced by the two countries in 2021, because Rwanda now expressly states that it wants to accept asylum seekers from Denmark.

Earlier declarations referred more vaguely to Denmark’s goal of establishing an offshore or “third-country” asylum centre.

Danish ministers Kaare Dybvad Bek (Immigration) and Flemming Møller Mortensen (foreign development) are currently in Rwanda, where they held a doorstep press briefing on Friday with Rwandan officials to present the new agreement.

Securing an offshore asylum centre has been a long-term, stated ambition of the governing Social Democratic party. The Danish Foreign Ministry recently announced it had opened a local office in Kigali, where two diplomats from the ministry will be based from late this year.

In June 2021, Denmark, known for having one of Europe’s harshest stances on immigration, adopted a law enabling it to open asylum reception centres outside Europe where applicants would live while their case is being processed.

Asylum seekers would still need to submit applications in person at the Danish border and then be flown to the reception centre in another country.

The declaration states that the two lands are working together to enable asylum seekers to remain in Rwanda after their cases are processed.

The two countries say they will speak to the EU Commission and other international bodies to “facilitate international dialogue” about what Denmark and Rwanda view as solutions to the current “dysfunctional” asylum system.

“We are working hard to create a fairer asylum system and we have continuously taken news steps,” Bek said in a press statement.

“At the same time it is important that we don’t rush anything through but instead do our work thoroughly and reach an agreement that complies with Denmark’s and Rwanda’s international obligations,” he said.

When the 2021 Danish law was passed, the European Commission said the Danish plan violated existing EU asylum rules.

Denmark has an opt-out on EU law which keeps it outside of the EU cooperation on laws relating to border control and asylum (but not visa rules and the Schengen area).

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However, the Nordic country could find itself in violation of the Dublin Regulation should it press on with the plan.

The regulation sets criteria for how EU member states must process asylum claims.

Earlier this month, the EU Commission told Danish political media Altinget that a legal assessment of whether the Dublin Regulation had been infringed would be initiated if Denmark went ahead with the plan.

The minority government is also likely to face blowback over the plan from left wing parties which usually secure its parliamentary majority.

The immigration spokesperson with the Social Liberals (Radikale Venstre), Kathrine Olldag, told newspaper Jyllands-Posten on Friday that her party “can not put mandates behind a government – regardless of party colour – that fulfils this project” by moving asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Conservative parties have meanwhile called the two ministers’ visit to Rwanda a campaign stunt, with a general election rumoured to be announced this autumn.

The UK government has also announced a controversial policy to deport rejected asylum seekers to Rwanda, but it has stalled amid legal challenges.

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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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