Why are minority rights important? Because the true test of a pluralist, democratic society is the extent to which the society includes minorities, allows them to participate and integrate rather than excludes, vilifies and discriminates against them.
The term “minority rights” refers to the rights of individuals and groups that define themselves or are defined by [...]
The Danish Minister of Defense has decided that women in the military may not use Muslim headscarves or hijab. The decision has come in response to a recent debate about a Muslim woman in the Danish Home Guard, that was first promoted as a role model and then told that her headscarf was not allowed, [...]
The Dutch politician Geert Wilders, presented a shocking political program for Europe, yesterday at a meeting in Copenhagen:
1) Boycott the UN Human Rights Council.2) Revoke all laws against hate speech in Europe.3) All Islamic schools must be closed.4) Close all mosques.
Can one assume that this is the program his party will be working for at [...]
The Danish parliament recently passed a law forbidding religious symbols in court rooms, after a refusal by the independent Danish Court administration to ban, in a theoretical situation, in the future, a female court official from wearing a hijab. The law covers all overt religious symbols such as hijab, yarmulke, turbans and crosses. However there [...]
The latest news in the Danish media is that the bus company Arriva has been reported to the police for racism after it turns out that a woman wearing a niqab has been refused service before. In another case, another woman has not been allowed to ride on a bus on four separate occasions.
The story [...]
Women and buses can be powerful symbols. Rosa Parks’ refusal to sit at the back of a bus was a powerful symbol for the American Civil Rights movement. A woman initially not allowed to ride a Danish bus the other day, because she was wearing a niqab, can also be a powerful symbol. The symbolism [...]
The Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, is apparently interested in becoming the next Secretary General of NATO. Why do I say “hell no”? Dragging Denmark into the war on Iraq is one good reason. Probable participation with American rendition policies would be another. However, I first and foremost oppose his possible candidature because his [...]
Globalization has yet to fulfill the promises of democratic change and a reduction of human rights violations around the world that pundits and politicians have insisted were inevitable. There are so called “movers and shakers”, that would like to base rights on the shifting sands of political pragmatism or expediency. Still others, would like to [...]
I was shocked and dismayed last night, to hear teenagers roaming the streets in my Copenhagen neighborhood, shouting racist slogans as they demonstratively marched down the middle of the street. While I have been aware of incidents where youth have expressed racial hatred in Denmark before, I had always understood this to be largely a [...]
National boundaries and national school policies are decreasing in importance as new models of organization, learning, cooperation and production (both knowledge and industrial based), are evolving through community, collaboration and ...
The Danish public school system does not live up to the standards defined in articles 28, 29 & 30 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child ...
Creating a democratic constitution that reflects the needs of an organization can prove to be a challenge for someone that has never tried it before. Below is a generic text ...
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 ...