DENMARK: Law on deportation of criminal foreign nationals approved

Record ID: 327589

  • Title: DENMARK: Law on deportation of criminal foreign nationals approved
  • Date: 25th June 2011
  • Summary: COPENHAGEN, DENMARK (JUNE 24, 2011) (REUTERS) EXTERIORS OF PARLIAMENT BUILDING DANISH FLAG INTERIOR OF PARLIAMENT DANISH IMMIGRATION MINISTER SOREN PIND IN PARLIAMENT (SOUNDBITE) (English) DANISH IMMIGRATION MINISTER, SOREN PIND, SAYING: "We have wanted to send two clear signals. On the one hand, if people are in your country as guests or as foreigners they should not commit crimes and on the other hand this country needs foreigners to come here, to participate in society and this is why we also have liberalised quite a lot since I was appointed minister for integration." VARIOUS OF BOARD WITH RESULT OF VOTE (SOUNDBITE) (English) DANISH IMMIGRATION MINISTER, SOREN PIND, SAYING: "The only people who will be sent out of the country are people who are condemned to jail and in this country to be condemned to jail is actually quite an offence and secondly you still have the international human rights that apply so there are international standards for proportionality." MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT JOHANNE SCHMIDT-NIELSEN, POLITICAL SPOKES WOMAN FOR THE RED-GREEN ALLIANCE IN PARLIAMENT (SOUNDBITE) (Danish) POLITICAL SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE RED-GREEN ALLIANCE, JOHANNE SCHMIDT-NIELSEN, SAYING: "You can get seven days minimum for having an illegal knife in your pocket. In many cases it's a person that has lived his whole life in Denmark, but does not have citizenship, because the rules to get citizenship are so hard. I think it is completely unfair, that those kinds of people shall be expelled." MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT PHOTOGRAPHER (SOUNDBITE) (Danish) POLITICAL SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE RED-GREEN ALLIANCE, JOHANNE SCHMIDT-NIELSEN, SAYING: "We risk, Denmark risks, to be convicted of violations of human rights and the political majority in Denmark is aware of that - and they go with open eyes into a law, where Denmark is likely to be convicted of violating citizens' human rights. I think it's grotesque." PETER SKAARUP, VICE-CHAIRMAN AND LEGAL SPOKESMAN OF THE DANISH PEOPLE'S PARTY IN PARLIAMENT (SOUNDBITE) (English) VICE-CHAIRMAN AND LEGAL SPOKESMAN OF THE DANISH PEOPLE'S PARTY, PETER SKAARUP, SAYING: "There is a group of people committing very tough crimes and I don't think we should accept that. We should help also the immigrants who behave themselves by sending the criminals out of the country." MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT
  • Embargoed: 10th July 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Denmark, Denmark
  • Country: Denmark
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA96V1D8JXBVFFOALV0AL2Y6JV6
  • Story Text: The Danish parliament on Friday (June 24) passed legislation saying that all criminal foreign nationals will automatically be deported, regardless of the severity of their prison sentence.
    The law was passed with a vote of 97 against 7.
    "We have wanted to send two clear signals. On the one hand, if people are in your country as guests or as foreigners they should not commit crimes, and on the other hand this country needs foreigners to come here, to participate in society and this is why we also have liberalised quite a lot since I was appointed minister for integration," Immigration Minister Soren Pind of the ruling centre-right coalition said after the vote.
    In the future, foreign nationals who have been convicted of a crime will be deported after a prison sentence. Currently it is merely a possibility.
    "The only people who will be sent out of the country are people who are condemned to jail and in this country to be condemned to jail is actually quite an offence, and secondly you still have the international human rights that apply so there are international standards for proportionality," Pind said.
    One of the few people opposing the legislation, was Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen from the Red-Green Alliance.
    "You can get seven days minimum for having a illegal knife in your pocket. In many cases it's a person that has lived his whole life in Denmark, but does not have citizenship, because the rules to get citizenship are so hard. I think it is completely unfair, that those kinds of people shall be expelled," she said.
    Human rights organisations are critical of the legislation and have warned that Denmark risks losing cases before the European Court of Human Rights.
    Schmidt-Nielsen said the political majority was aware of this but went ahead anyway.
    "We risk, Denmark risks, to be convicted of violations of human rights and the political majority in Denmark is aware of that - and they go with open eyes into a law, where Denmark is likely to be convicted of violating citizens' human rights. I think it's grotesque," she said.
    Peter Skaarup of the anti-immigrant Danish People's Party welcomed the result.
    "There is a group of people committing very tough crimes and I don't think we should accept that. We should help also the immigrants who behave themselves by sending the criminals out of the country," he said.
    Denmark's centre-right coalition has ruled since 2001 with the support of the People's Party, the third-biggest group in the Danish parliament. The People's Party have exacted a tightening of immigration law as the price of their support.
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