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IMMIGRATION

Denmark to move group of residents from Kærshovedgård centre

A group of single women are to be relocated from Denmark’s controversial Kærshovedgård departure centre to a different facility, authorities have said.

Published: 19 March 2024 12:54 CET
Denmark to move group of residents from Kærshovedgård centre
A sign near the Kærshovedgård deportation centre in Jutland. Photo: Bo Amstrup/Boamstrup/Ritzau Scanpix

A number of single women are to be relocated from the Kærshovedgård departure centre to another departure centre, Avnstrup, the Ministry of Immigration and Integration has said in a statement.

By moving the women, the ministry says it is living up to one of the pledges in the coalition government’s policy paper by reducing the number of people housed at Kærshovedgård.

“The move will also address reports of episodes where women have been subjected to harassment and unwanted sexual contact at Kærshovedgård,” it said.

Residents at the centres 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. Many have been there for several years with no immediate resolutions to their situations.

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The departure centre at Avnstrup is operated by the Danish Red Cross on behalf of the Danish Immigration Service and primarily accommodates families including children who do not have the legal right to reside in Denmark.

The Kærshovedgård facility, which accommodates people with criminal records who have served their sentences and now face deportation, as well as rejected asylum seekers and others with no residence rights, is operated by the Danish prison service, Kriminalforsorgen.

In the policy paper (regeringsgrundlag) which was agreed by the three coalition parties on taking office in December 2022, the government states its “ambition” is to “reduce the number of residents at the Kærshovedgård Departure Centre – for example by moving some female residents to another location”.

In the statement, the ministry also says it has explored options for moving a group of people from Sjælsmark, the other departure centre which is run by Kriminalforsorgen, also in line with the government’s policy paper.. The group has “special lodging needs” and will therefore not be moved at the current time.

A longstanding expulsion facility, Kærshovedgård has recently received renewed media attention in Denmark after a film highlighted the plight of rejected asylum seekers trapped at the centre, whilst MEPs said it would be wrong to process stranded cases in Denmark.

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IMMIGRATION

Local authority demands changes at Denmark’s Kærshovedgård asylum camp

Elected officials in the local Ikast-Brande Municipality have demanded the government act following a recent damning report on conditions at the Kærshovedgård ‘departure centre’.

Published: 30 April 2024 16:40 CEST
Local authority demands changes at Denmark’s Kærshovedgård asylum camp

Local politicians in Ikast-Brande have reportedly run out of patience with crime and security issues at the Kærshovedgård ‘departure centre’ for rejected asylum seekers and convicted felons awaiting deportation.

The officials have stated their position in a letter sent by the Ikast-Brande municipal council to Mininster for Immigration and Integration Kaare Dybvad Bek, newswire Ritzau reports.

That comes after conditions at the centre were the focus of a stinging rebuke in a report by the Ombudsman, the Danish parliamentary watchdog, in a report published last week.

READ ALSO: Danish watchdog slams ‘deteriorating’ conditions at Kærshovedgård asylum facility

In the report, the ombudsman said conditions at the centre have deteriorated and are now so poor that they prevent residents from “living basic life”, while security at the facility was also criticised.

“We cannot passively look on as criminal residents who have been sentenced to deportation and who live at Kærshovedgård Departure Centre repeatedly commit new crimes and create insecurity in the local community,” the officials write in the letter.

Incidents named in the letter including drugs cases and a recent fatal traffic accident for which a resident of Kærshovedgård is the subject of police charges.

“We need a solution now,” the council writes without providing any specific suggestions as to which measures could be taken.

While state funds have been provided for the purposes of improving safety in the community neighbouring the facility, this does not go far enough according to the authors of the letter.

“The crime which is committed by some of the residents of the departure centre is not reduced by this funding. It is the residents, their behaviour and their movements which should be in focus,” they say.

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

Located 13 kilometres from Ikast in Jutland, the Kærshovedgård facility 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. Some residents are 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.

Kærshovedgård first became prominent in the mid-2010s, when it received criticism for imposing conditions that could lead to mental illnesses in residents.

“The security situation for the residents of Kærshovedgård appears to have worsened since the ombudsman’s last visit, and this is a development that should be rectified,” the ombudsman, Niels Fenger, said in a statement on Friday.

Fenger said he was “of the impression that residents experience greater feelings of insecurity at the departure centre [and there is] a lot of crime including the sale of narcotics.”

“Additionally, the atmosphere at the departure centre carries a sense of deterioration and a significant number of residents have addiction problems,” the ombudsman statement said.

The ombudsman also observed that, since a previous visit in 2017, “there has been a change in the composition of residents in that people who have a deportation [criminal, ed.] sentence and who did not previously live at Kærshovedgård now make up the largest group at the location”.

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