Denmark

Danish MPs approve seizing valuables from refugees

January 27, 2016 by Nasheman

Package of measures to deter asylum seekers passed, including confiscation of cash and valuables exceeding $1,450.

Critics compared Denmark’s proposal to seize refugees’ assets to Nazi Germany during World War II [Per Rasmussen/AP]

by Al Jazeera

The Danish parliament has passed a package of measures to deter refugees from seeking asylum, including confiscating valuables to pay for their stay, despite protests from international human rights organisations.

The measures, which also include extending family reunification among refugees from one year to three years, were passed by an overwhelming majority on Tuesday.

The bill, which allows the confiscation of refugees’ cash exceeding 10,000 kroner ($1,450), has prompted comparisons to Nazi Germany, which confiscated the goods of Jews during World War II.

The Council of Europe, a human rights watchdog, said the law could violate fundamental property rights.

However, Kristian Jensen, the Danish foreign minister, and Inger Stojberg, the immigration minister, argued on Monday, during a debate at the European Parliament, that the proposed law is fair and in line with the Danish welfare model and compatible with international rules.

“We…think that it is fair and reasonable that those asylum seekers who do bring enough assets with them should cover the costs of their food and lodging during the asylum process,” Stojberg said.

“When you have such a broad, universal welfare system as the Danish one, this is also based on this basic principle that if you can support yourself you have to do so,” she added.

The law will also allow for asylum seekers’ belongings to be searched.

Cash and proceeds from the sale of valuables belonging to refugees will be used to pay for their stay in Denmark.

Valuables that have “sentimental value”, such as wedding and engagement rings, will be off-limits, however.

While many have focused on the confiscation of valuables, critics suggest that it is the part of the bill relating to reunification of families that is most alarming.

The new law will mean that refugees will have to wait three years after being granted asylum before they can apply to be reunited with their family. The current law permits them to do this after one year.

Jonas Christoffersen, the director of the the Danish Institute for Human Rights, told Al Jazeera that the “right of refugees to be reunited with their family is protected by numerous international conventions ratified by Denmark. We believe the government is overstepping international law by implementing this bill.”

The bill was passed as the minority government of right-leaning Liberals had secured backing from others, including the main opposition Social Democrats and the anti-immigrant Danish People’s Party.

‘Wrong direction’

Liberal and left-wing EU parliamentarians criticised the proposed bill and took aim at a new provision in Danish law that would delay family reunification for up to three years for people in need of temporary protection.

“This law … goes completely in the wrong direction,” Cornelia Ernst, a far-left German politician, said on Monday.

“Refugees completely liquidate their households – if they even still had one – and take their last money and valuables with them, which you now confiscate. How can you ensure there is proportionality here?”

Cecilia Wikstrom, a Liberal Swedish politician, said: “You will never, ever convince me that this is either responsible or proportionate.

“It does not matter how serious the situation or how strong the pressure [is], we are the richest region on the planet. And if we are not taking responsibility, tell me who should do it then?”

In response, Jensen argued that his country was doing its share by providing significant funding for humanitarian aid.

The northern European country has one of Europe’s highest numbers of asylum seekers per capita and expects a further 25,000 to arrive this year, Stojberg said.

Rejecting government hostility, people of Denmark issue welcome letter to refugees

October 7, 2015 by Nasheman

‘As ordinary Danes we wish to extend our sympathy and compassion to anyone fleeing war and despair’

Denmark’s government attracted international criticism last month when it printed advertisements in four Lebanese papers warning refugees not to come to the European country. (Image: People Reaching Out/Facebook)

by Sarah Lazare, Common Dreams

A group of ordinary Danes has devised a creative way to directly counter—and apologize for—their government’s message of hostility towards refugees.

But in response, Danes affiliated with the group People Reaching Out on Friday launched their own advertising campaign—to welcome refugees with open arms and apologize for their government’s xenophobic and heartless message.

To differentiate its message, the campaign depicted marked-up versions of the government’s original advertisements and included a “statement from people to people” which declares: “Sorry for the hostility towards refugees expressed here. As ordinary Danes we wish to extend our sympathy and compassion to anyone fleeing war and despair.”

(Image courtesy of People Reaching Out/Facebook)

Denmark’s government is taking an increasingly hostile stance toward refugees, with slashes to services as well as the shutting down of trains and roads linked with Germany. This trend is driven by the right-wing Liberal Party, which formed a minority government in June.

However, Denmark is not alone. States across Europe are tightening their borders, cutting aid to refugees and building fences as the continent faces its greatest influx of people since World War II. The humanitarian failure of governments is accompanied by racist, anti-immigrant blow-back.

But within Denmark, public surveys—and the outraged response—indicate that the government crackdown does not reflect the will of the majority of Danish people. A Gallup Poll released last month found that 56 percent of people in Denmark want their government to increase the number of residency permits it grants to refugees. That figure is a significant boost from polling last year.

Meanwhile, ordinary people across the continent—from soccer matches in Germany to train stations in Vienna—have greeted refugees with a message of welcome.

Police say Copenhagen attacks suspect had gang past

February 16, 2015 by Nasheman

Police say suspect in weekend attacks, who was shot dead on Sunday, is a Danish-born 22-year-old with criminal record.

by Al Jazeera

Danish police have shot and killed a man they believe carried out two gun attacks in Copenhagen which left two people dead.

Police said the man was a Danish-born 22-year-old with a background in criminal gangs.

At a news conference on Sunday, officers said video surveillance indicated the man was behind attacks on a free-speech event on Saturday and the capital’s main synagogue early on Sunday.

Investigators said the suspect had a history of assault and weapons offences and that they were trying to ascertain if he had help from any accomplices.

The man was shot dead early on Sunday after opening fire on police, officials said, adding that no officers were wounded.

The exchange of fire took place in the multicultural inner-city neighbourhood of Norrebro where police had been keeping an address under observation earlier in the day.

“We believe the same man was behind both shootings and we also believe that the perpetrator who was shot by the police action force at Norrebro station is the person behind the two attacks,” police official Torben Moelgaard Jensen said.

Police said there was no evidence to indicate that any more suspects were involved in the incidents.

Charlie Hebdo-inspired?

Intelligence services, meanwhile, said the attacker could have been inspired by last month’s attacks on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

“From the perspective of the Danish Intelligence service, we can’t say anything concrete about the motivation behind the attacks nor the perpetrator’s motives,” Jens Madsen, Danish intelligence service chief.

“But, we are working on the theory that he could have been inspired by the attack in Paris against the Charlie Hebdo newspaper, Islamic extremism and perhaps other attacks in a similar fashion, he added.

Al Jazeera’s Nick Spicer, reporting from Copenhagen, said the suspect was known to Danish intelligence.

Police raids were carried out Sunday evening and an arrest was made at an internet cafe in the neighbourhood where the suspected gunman resided, our correspondent added.

Meanwhile, in northern Germany, a police statement said that a carnival parade in Braunscheweig had been called off 90 minutes before it was due to start because of a “specific threat of an Islamist attack”.

Twin attacks

One man was killed and two police officers wounded at the Copenhagen synagogue, while one man was killed and three police officers were wounded in a shooting attack on a cafe in the north of the capital.

Denmark’s Jewish Community identified the victim at the synagogue as 37-year-old Jewish man Dan Uzan, who was guarding a building during a bar mitzvah when he was shot dead at about 1am local time on Sunday morning.

The earlier shooting occurred before 4pm local time on Saturday when police said a gunman used an automatic weapon to shoot through the windows of the Krudttoenden Cafe during a panel discussion on freedom of expression.

The debate on freedom of speech was attended by Lars Vilks, a Swedish artist who had been threatened with death for his cartoons of Prophet Muhammad.

Vilks was whisked away unharmed by his bodyguards but a 55-year-old man attending the event was killed, while three police officers were wounded, authorities said.

Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt described the two incidents as “terrorist attacks”.

“We don’t know the motive for the attacks but we know that there are forces that want to harm Denmark, that want to crush our freedom of expression, our belief in liberty,” she said in a nationwide address.

“We are not facing a fight between Islam and the West, it is not a fight between Muslims and non-Muslims.”

Numerous threats

When Vilks is in Denmark, he receives police protection.

A woman in the US state of Pennsylvania got a 10-year prison term last year for a plot to kill him.

In 2010, two brothers tried to burn down Vilks’ house in southern Sweden and were imprisoned for attempted arson.

Just over a month ago, 17 people were killed in France in three days of violence that began when two attackers burst into the Paris offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo , opening fire in revenge for its publication of images of Prophet Muhammad.

Ireland recognizes Palestine as a state as EU vote looms

December 11, 2014 by Nasheman

A Palestinian protester holding her national flag faces Israeli soldiers during a demonstration on the highway between Jerusalem and Jericho on November 28, 2014, against the construction of Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley and against the plan to relocate Bedoiuns from the central West Bank area. AFP / Abbas Momani

by Al Akhbar

Irish lawmakers urged their government Wednesday to recognize Palestine as a state in a symbolic motion that sailed through parliament unopposed, the latest in a series of similar measures across Europe as the EU parliament holds a crucial vote on Palestine next week.

The Irish move came a day before the Danish parliament gears up to vote on Thursday to recognize Palestine as well.

The non-binding motion agreed by lawmakers in Dublin called on the government to “officially recognize the State of Palestine, on the basis of the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital, as established in UN resolutions.”

This would be “a further positive contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” it added.

The government is not bound to follow the motion but Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan said Ireland supported early recognition of a Palestinian state “in principle.”

“We have always supported a viable two-state solution and will continue to support that in any manner and by any means,” Flanagan told parliament.

Despite being proposed by the opposition Sinn Fein party, the motion had cross-party support, dispensing the need for a vote. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, who was refused entry to Gaza by Israel during a visit to the region last week, said the motion was about inspiring hope.

“We must stand with the Palestinian and Israeli citizens who want peace – who are taking risks for peace. The passing of this motion is an important contribution to this,” Adams said.

The motion also called on the Irish government to do everything it could internationally to secure “an inclusive and viable peace process.”

European politicians have become more active in pushing for a sovereign Palestine since the collapse of US-sponsored peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in April, and ensuing conflict in Gaza, where more than 2,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and on the Israeli side, 66 soldiers and six civilians were killed this summer.

“It’s been suggested that recognition now might help jump-start a stalemate process. This was the judgement made by Sweden and indeed it is the spirit of this evening’s motion,” Flanagan said.

The chairperson of the Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Martin O’Quigley, welcomed the move.

“It’s very important, but just as important is for the Irish government to make Israel accountable for what has happened and what is happening in Palestine,” he told AFP.

The Israeli embassy in Dublin said however the motion was premature.

“A vote in favor of this motion, therefore, is a vote for Ireland, a neutral country, to intervene in a foreign conflict in favour of one national movement at the expense of another,” the Embassy said in a statement.

“That is not how peace is brought about.”

Denmark to debate Palestine recognition

Meanwhile, the Danish parliament will debate a motion calling for the recognition of Palestine as a state on Thursday.

Danish MP Holger K. Nielsen, one of the main drivers behind the initiative in Denmark, told Ma’an news agency that the first reading will take place Thursday before a potential vote in the second reading, which could take place in early 2015.

The motion was introduced by the Red-Green Alliance, the Socialist People’s Party (SPP), and Greenland’s Inuit Ataqatigiit, three small left-wing parties. It calls on the government to recognize Palestine as a state within the 1967 borders

“I think there is strength now among European countries tired of Israel’s attitude to negotiations and it is therefore more important now to put pressure on Israel,” Nielsen, a member of the SPP, said.

Nielsen says it will be “difficult” to get a majority in the Danish parliament, which may even vote against it. But he thinks debates like these aim to raise public awareness and have notably changed national attitudes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“Public opinion has changed (in Denmark) today compared to 10 years ago. Our aim is to change the situation so the Danish public understands the conflict.”

A former Danish adviser at the EU parliament told Ma’an that while the vote in Denmark won’t change the realities on the ground, it is a step in the right direction.

“The Danish vote is part of larger picture where a lot of Europeans are getting fed up with Israel’s rejectionism and continued settlement building. Parliaments in a lot of EU countries are reacting to this and putting Palestinian statehood to a vote out of concern for the two-state solution.”

According to PA estimations, around 135 countries have so far recognized the State of Palestine, although the number is disputed and several recognitions by what are now European Union member states date back to the Soviet era.

Ireland’s parliament is the fourth European assembly to call for the recognition of Palestinian statehood since October.

Sweden, who initiated the vote, has gone even further, officially recognizing Palestine as a state in a move that prompted Israel to recall its ambassador.

A week after Sweden’s decision, MPs in Britain voted 274 to 12 for a non-binding motion to “recognize the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel as a contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution.”

On November 18, Spanish MPs backed a motion to recognize Palestine as a state following a final-status agreement, while on December 2, French MPs voted 339 to 151 in favor of a motion that invites Paris to recognize the state of Palestine “as an instrument to gain a definitive resolution of the conflict.”

Spain notably changed its wording on the day of the motion following an attack on a Jerusalem synagogue — from recognition as a way to encourage a “negotiated settlement” to recognition following an agreement.

Intense lobbying around EU vote

The Danish debate comes a week before the EU parliament is due to vote on recognizing Palestine as a state on December 17, a motion postponed on November4 27 following reportedly intense pressure by Israeli diplomats.

Spain’s significant rewording of its motion reflects the core split within the EU parliament: using unconditional recognition as a means to address the imbalance between both sides in the peace process, or recognition as a condition of the outcome of talks.

A staffer in the European parliament told Ma’an that the vote was extremely tight at the moment, with signs that there could be no majority for any text at all, a potentially damaging blow for the EU’s role as a serious global actor.

The PA has also notably been absent from lobbying parliament members on the vote, the staffer said, with Israeli civil society actors lobbying passionately in favor of recognition and Israeli diplomats and other actors lobbying intensely against parliamentarians recognizing Palestine.

Whatever the outcome of the vote next week, debate in the EU parliament has been extensive, the staffer added.

EU recognition of Palestine would do little to change the realities of occupation, the former Danish adviser told Ma’an, but it could be taken as a sign of future EU action if Israel continues to maintain the status quo.

New EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who took office in early November, has been extremely vocal on Palestine and made it a point of calling for a Palestinian state during a visit to Gaza, the first visit in her new position.

Mogherini’s statements together with real measures such as getting tougher on settlements, denying violent settlers access to the EU, and reviewing the extensive trade agreements with Israel could signal meaningful change if the EU recognition vote falls flat, the former adviser added.

Holger Nielsen, the Danish MP, agrees that the EU must use economic means and be stricter on trade policy to really influence the Israeli government’s position.

“It’s difficult, but you have to continue the discussion. Change is coming all the time. Maybe not tomorrow, but I’m sure the only way you can make things change is to maintain this kind of pressure.”

The roots of the Israel-Palestine conflict date back to 1917, when the British government, in the now-famous “Balfour Declaration,” called for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”

Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the holy city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Zionist state – a move never recognized by the international community.

In November 1988, Palestinian leaders led by Yasser Arafat declared the existence of a state of Palestine inside the 1967 borders and the state’s belief “in the settlement of international and regional disputes by peaceful means in accordance with the charter and resolutions of the United Nations.”

Heralded as a “historic compromise,” the move implied that Palestinians would agree to accept only 22 percent of historic Palestine, in exchange for peace with Israel. It is now believed that only 17 percent of historic Palestine is under Palestinian control following the continued expansion of illegal Israeli settlements.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) this year set November 2016 as the deadline for ending the Israeli withdrawal from the territories occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967 and establishing a two-state solution.

It is worth noting that numerous pro-Palestine activists support a one-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians would be treated equally, arguing that the creation of a Palestinian state beside Israel would not be sustainable. They also believe that the two-state solution, which is the only option considered by international actors, won’t solve existing discrimination, nor erase economic and military tensions.

(AFP, Ma’an, Al-Akhbar)

Danish parliament to vote on Palestine recognition

November 25, 2014 by Nasheman

by Andrew Rettman, EUobserver

Brussels: Danish MPs are to vote on a resolution instructing the government to recognise Palestine, but Denmark’s foreign minister says the time is not right.

The motion was introduced by deputies from three small left-wing parties: the Red-Green Alliance; the Socialist People’s Party; and Greenland’s Inuit Ataqatigiit.

“The parliament directs the government to recognise Palestine as an independent and sovereign state within pre-1967 borders and, by extension, [to] provide the state of Palestine with full diplomatic rights”, the draft text says.

The Danish assembly is to hold a first debate on 11 December and to vote on a final text in early January.

Holger K. Nielsen, one of the MPs behind the initiative, doesn’t fancy its chances.

“I don’t think we’ll get a majority, but at least we’ll have a good discussion”, he told EUobserver on Monday (24 November).

He noted that if it does get through, the government is not legally obliged to comply but would find it “impossible” to say No in political terms.

Nielsen, a former foreign minister, said he was “inspired” by Sweden’s recent decision to recognise Palestine.

He added that EU recognitions could be “a tool” to help restart peace talks: “It would give the Palestinians a better position in the negotiations, or, at least, a less unequal position”.

But Denmark’s current foreign minister, Martin Lidegaard, disagrees.

“The positions of member states [on Palestine recogntion] are evolving. This, in my view, makes sense as the peace process is not showing any progress”, he told this website.

“Denmark will also come to recognise Palestine, but the timing has to be right”.

He urged the EU to take joint steps against Israeli settlements instead.

“Israel continues to, unacceptably, expand the illegal settlements and thus de facto undermines the possibilities for a two-state solution”, he said.

“The chances of bringing together the EU and actually influencing the conflict would be greater if we consider further action against the settlements”.

For its part, Israel says settlements are “not a hurdle” to peace.

It also says European recognitions harm the peace process.

Michal Weiler-Tal, a spokeswoman for Israel’s EU embassy, told EUobserver: “Recognition at this stage without direct talks between the two sides only pushes them further apart … it [sends] the wrong message – that negotiations are futile”.

“This damages the EU image in Israeli public opinion”.

The Danish resolution comes amid a series of similar votes in Europe.

The British, Irish, and Spanish parliaments recently urged their governments to recognise Palestine.

The European Parliament will vote on Thursday, while French MPs are to vote on Friday or next Tuesday (2 December).

Echoing Lidegaard, one EU diplomat told this website that even if other EU governments follow Sweden it is unlikely to have much impact.

“There was a lot of excitement back in the 1980s when [the late Palestinian leader] Arafat was threatening to proclaim a unilateral declaration of independence [UDI]”, the diplomat said.

“More than 130 countries have now recognised Palestine. But little has changed on the ground, and the whole UDI issue has lost significance”.

Danish MPs approve seizing valuables from refugees

Rejecting government hostility, people of Denmark issue welcome letter to refugees

Police say Copenhagen attacks suspect had gang past

Ireland recognizes Palestine as a state as EU vote looms

Danish parliament to vote on Palestine recognition

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