Danish lawmakers OK seizing valuables from migrants

The Danish parliament on Tuesday approved a controversial bill allowing authorities to confiscate valuables of refugees while they process their asylum.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the United Nations secretary-general, criticized Denmark, saying people who make the effort to reach Europe “should be treated with compassion and respect” and with full rights as refugees.

The Danish government has defended the request that asylum seekers sell valuables and offer up cash, as the same rules apply for all Danish citizens who wish to qualify for social benefits.

“Most (refugees) have lost everything and yet this legislation appears to say that the few fortunate enough to have survived the trip to Denmark with their few remaining possessions haven’t lost enough”, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe said, mirroring criticism from many organisations.

Integration Minister Inger Stoejberg has insisted that none of the items taken from refugees would be of sentimental value.

The European Union must implement its own agreement to improve identification and registration of refugees in Greece and Italy, relocate them equitably across the bloc, and provide humane return for those whose claims are rejected, he said.

Others have drawn parallels between the Danish proposals and the confiscation of gold and other valuables from Jews by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

The new measures, which also delay family reunions by increasing the waiting period from one to up to three years, had cross-party support and passed with an overwhelming majority. Some German states do take funds from refugees and Switzerland requires asylum-seekers to hand over cash of more than 1,000 francs ($996).

Danish Queen Margrethe is expected to sign the bill into law within the coming days.

Wiebke Keson, a 72-year-old Danish refugee center volunteer, said she was “shocked” by the notion of confiscating jewelry. “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”.

Mr Rasmussen’s party won a June 2015 election after promising an “immediate slowdown” of Denmark’s refugee influx.

It is also one of a handful of countries to provide more than 0.7 percent of GNI for development. “They are moving towards a very totalitarian understanding of how we should treat human beings”, Imran Shah, a spokesperson for the Islamic Society of Denmark, told Middle East Eye earlier this month.

Copenhagen has often referred to neighboring Sweden as a cautionary tale, where 163,000 asylum applications were submitted past year – compared to some 20,000 in Denmark. “Seizing assets from asylum-seekers is sending damaging messages and runs the risk of fuelling sentiments of fear and discrimination rather than promoting solidarity with individuals in need of protection”. The costs associated with transporting relatives to the country of asylum would be covered by the refugee.