Denmark passes tough migrant law: Know more about controversial bill

Denmark’s Parliament approved a controversial law Tuesday allowing police to seize valuables worth more than $1,500 from asylum-seekers to help cover their housing and food costs while their cases were being processed.

Danish police will be able to search luggage of asylum seekers and seize cash exceeding 10,000 kroner (£1,025), as well as any individual items valued at more than that amount.

Danish lawmakers voted Tuesday to pass a law that will give immigration officials the right to take valuables and cash from refugees applying for asylum in Denmark in order to pay for their stay.

The reforms, aimed at dissuading refugees and migrants from seeking asylum, also include provisions to delay family reunifications by up to three years, and have been likened by some to the Nazi-era policy of taking gold and other valuables from Jews.

After more than three hours of debate, the minority Liberal Party government’s bill was adopted in an 81-27 vote.

Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen, second right, and Danish Minister for Immigration Inger Stojberg, right, attend a meeting of the Civil Liberties Committee at the European Parliament in Brussels on Monday, ahead of a debate on the Danish law on asylum and refugees.

Cash or assets worth more than 10,000 kroner ($1,450) will be confiscated.

The center-right Danish government says asylum seekers will now be treated like Danish citizens on welfare, who have to sell assets above a certain level to be eligible for benefits.

A spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency, Adrian Edwards, says it sends a damaging message.

The Council of Europe, a human rights watchdog, has expressed concerns that the law could violate fundamental property rights.

“Does a rich country like Denmark really need to strip the very assets of these desperate asylum seekers before providing them basic services?” asked Roth, who was presenting HRW’s annual report in Istanbul.

“It is a sad reflection of how much Denmark has wandered from its historical support of global standards enshrined in the Refugee Convention”, he said. But Denmark, which often touts its commitment to sustainability, equality, and good design, has been rebuked by human rights groups and other European countries who have called the new law xenophobic.

By comparison, neighbouring Sweden took 160,000 migrants previous year, while Germany took over one million. However, possessions of personal value such as engagement rings are exempt from being confiscated, the Danish ministers said.

“The alternative is that we continue to be (one of) the most attractive countries in Europe to come to, and then we end up like Sweden”, he warned, referencing the fact that Sweden received more than 160,000 migrants, compared to Denmark’s 18,000 in 2015.

Rasmussen, whose party won a June election after promising an “immediate slowdown” of Denmark’s refugee influx, has been unfazed, arguing that the UN Refugee Convention may need to be changed if refugees keep pouring into Europe.