durant.dk

Refugees

There has been a lot of debate in recent days in Denmark about statements from vicars and members of parliament that they would hide illegal refugees to prevent them from being sent back to their countries of origin, such as Iraq.

Politicians, priests, the media, all seem to be missing a fundamental point. These refugees are not “illegal”. The majority of refugees that are grouped into the category “illegal” are in fact what the UN calls de facto refugees. There is no doubt that these people are fleeing from areas plagued by violence and armed conflict. The problem is that they are unable to document that they have themselves been personally persecuted. Without such documentation, an individual may not be recognized as a refugee.

Increased demands for documentation of persecution have been part of revised refugee and immigration legislation – to keep foreigners out of Denmark. That has been the stated political goal of the extremist Danish People’s Party, which supplies a parliamentary majority for the current government. The purpose of such legislation, in relation to de facto refugees, should be protecting the defenseless and persecuted, rather than promoting political goals of a specific political party. Unfortunately, there have been a number of cases where people, including families, have been returned to their countries of origin, to be re-arrested, tortured and some family members killed before the survivors managed to escape, and again tried to be acknowledged as refugees by Denmark.