Archive for the ‘Denmark’ Category

Danish schools fail UN convention standards.

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 (1), with reference to minority groups. The convention, which has been ratified by every member country of the United Nations except the United States and [...]

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 [...]

European democracies in crisis.

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 [...]

Danish police illegally strip and cavity search the owners of a cafe.

Danish police illegally striped and cavity searched the owners of a cafe and their customers. Officially the police were conducting searches in connection with a continuing conflict between Hells Angels and gangs whose members have an immigrant background. I wonder what kind of weapons the police expected to find? This adds to a continuing pattern [...]

Woman wearing niqab has been refused service before.

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.

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 [...]

Fogh To NATO? Hell No!

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 [...]

No democratic oversight of intelligence services in Denmark?

Danish Minister of Defense, Soeren Gade, refuses to publicly comment whether Denmark is in a state of war. The current “war on terror” and the war in Afghanistan give the Danish intelligence services the justification to monitor e-mail, post, telephone, etc. without democratic control under paragraph 17 of the Danish National Defense Act, according to [...]

Lost in translation.

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 [...]

How bad is the human rights situation in Denmark?

The European Court of Human Rights has had to step in six times during 2008, using “rule 39″ to prevent forced repatriation by Danish immigration officials, of refugees to countries of origin where they risk torture and persecution, according to Danish Radio. Rule 39 is an emergency procedure where the European Court of Human Rights [...]