New UNHCR recommendations to Denmark
The UN Refugee Agency has a regional office for the Nordic and Baltic countries, based in Stockholm. With regular intervals, they come out with recommendations to the governments in those countries on how to improve protection for refugees, and on which points they are mostly concerned. The latest recommendations were launched this month, June 2026, and follow up on the previous ones from 2022.
The regional office also submitted their main points of concern before the UN Periodic Review on human rights in Denmark in November 2025. A specific set of recommendations to Denmark on statelessness was issued in January 2026, read more about that topic here. Furthermore, the office produces consultation responses to the most important Danish law proposals concerning refugees.
Refugees Welcome agrees with all the recommendations, which are in line with our own, and we are proud to be mentioned three times in the document as sources of information.
The recommendations to Denmark are:
1. Discontinue the regular mandatory review of continued international protection needs upon extension of residence permits and ensures that reviewing or ending international protection is limited to situations where the criteria and standards established in the 1951 Convention are clearly present, to reduce legal uncertainty and support integration.
2. Ensure that any application of cessation, withdrawal or non-renewal of international protection status is subject to strict safeguards, a holistic assessment and rigorous scrutiny of the applicable criteria and standards established in the 1951 Convention.
3. Remove mandatory waiting periods for family reunification for all beneficiaries of international protection, in line with the principle of non-discrimination and UNHCR 2024 Guidelines.
4. Guarantee family reunification for all children, including those between 15 and 18, in line with Article 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
5. Interpret dependency of family members of beneficiaries of international protection in a flexible and inclusive manner, in accordance with UNHCR’s 2024 Guidelines.
6. Introduce consular and embassy access for family members seeking family reunification in locations where Danish diplomatic missions are absent or inaccessible, facilitating document issuance and travel arrangements.
7. Amend the Nationality Act to ensure that all children born stateless in Denmark acquire Danish nationality automatically at birth, or at a minimum upon application.
8. Develop the existing statelessness registration procedure into a dedicated statelessness determination procedure.
9. Replace the requirement of “lawful residence” with “habitual residence” for the acquisition of nationality by stateless children, to bring national practice into conformity with Article 1(2) of the 1961 Convention.
10. Introduce provisions or alternative pathways for facilitation of naturalization for stateless persons with specific vulnerabilities, such as illiteracy or age-related limitations.
11. Ensure that Denmark’s implementation of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum remains firmly grounded in international protection principles and human rights law, including the right to seek asylum and the principle of non-refoulement.
12. Ensure that any cooperation or transfer arrangement with third countries, including in the context of return hubs or revised safe third country concepts, are accompanied by effective safeguards guaranteeing access to fair and efficient asylum procedures, treatment in line with international standards, and protection against legal uncertainty or onward refoulement.
13. Increase gradually the Danish resettlement quota, apply flexible selection criteria and grant resettled refugees permanent residence.
14. Continue commitment to increased predictable financial and flexible humanitarian and development funding to support international and local organizations as well as host countries respond to refugee situations around the world, and renew the Humanitarian Partnership Framework Agreement.