Today, Folketinget – the Danish parliament – is debating the government’s proposal that foreign nationals who have committed serious crimes are to be expelled even if expulsion would violate Denmark’s international obligations – a new practice that is likely to be overturned by the European Court of Human Rights. In the meantime, it would have no significant effect on crime but will fill return centers with people who cannot be deported.
The proposed bill also requires residents at return center Kærshovedgård who repeatedly violate reporting requirements to wear ankle monitors – a costly and unnecessary measure.
Read the consultation response from Refugees Welcome here (in Danish).
Relies on wishful thinking
According to the government’s bill, foreign nationals sentenced to at least one year of unconditional imprisonment for aggravated assault, sexual assault, organized crime, human trafficking, drug-related crimes, or similar offenses must be expelled from Denmark – unless “exceptional circumstances” weigh heavily against it. The person’s ties to Denmark and right to, among other things, family life are thus to be given less weight than before.
The European Convention on Human Rights has previously prevented expulsion if the individual’s rights outweighed the state’s desire to expel. The government now wants the Danish courts to no longer balance these interests.
The government expects that the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in the future will change its practice so that an individual’s ties to a country and right to family life are given less weight in expulsion cases. It does so because the signatory states to the European Convention on Human Rights issued a joint declaration earlier this year, calling for the court to make this exact change in practice.
However, it is highly doubtful – if not entirely unlikely – that the court will change its practice solely on the basis of a declaration and without any actual amendments to the convention.
The explanatory notes to the bill even states that there is a “significant risk” that Denmark will be found in violation of the Human Rights Convention when the deportation cases are brought before the court.
This means that Denmark, in passing the deportation reform, will knowingly violate human rights with a reasonable expectation of being found guilty of doing so.
Abuse of human lives and taxpayer money
The government says it will adjust its course if the court in Strasbourg does not change its practice. The legislation thus risks becoming entirely meaningless as soon as a case is brought before the court. That, however, will take several years. In the meantime, the government will be toying with people’s lives and fates.
By that time, several hundred expelled individuals will be entitled to return to Denmark and may be awarded compensation (between 2021 and 2025, 338 people have received a warning on expulsion). This is an abuse of people’s lives and taxpayer money.
The right to family life protects not only the person facing expulsion but also their family. In many cases, expulsion tears families apart, as the individual is forced to leave their mother, father, siblings, spouse, and, not least, children. Women are deprived of their husbands; children are deprived of their fathers.
The reform will also result in more people being held in return centers, as some individuals facing deportation will be at risk of the death penalty, torture, or inhumane treatment if they return to their countries of origin. This is already the case for many individuals sentenced to expulsion. As a result, the government will be spending taxpayer money on housing people who could support themselves in society if only they were allowed to do so.
Furthermore, the bill will not have any significant effect on crime. Figures from the Rockwool Foundation show that from 2000 to 2021, 4,257 criminal offenses were committed by individuals who would have been deported had the reform been in effect at the time. This means that 0.4% of all criminal offenses during that period could have been prevented – a marginal effect, considering that the government is willing to violate human rights to achieve it.
Expensive and unnecessary
The bill also requires residents at Return Center Kærshovedgård who repeatedly violate monitoring requirements – including the daily reporting and residence requirements – to wear electronic ankle monitors.
The monitoring requirements have been made stricter in recent years, and violations already result in imprisonment. The penalty is nearly doubled for repeat violations.
The bill thus represents an expansion of rules that already impose significant restrictions on the personal freedom of individuals who have either committed no crime (rejected asylum seekers) or who have already served their sentences.
The monitoring requirements are costly to administer and place a burden on the courts and prisons – all of which is likely to be exacerbated by the legislative change.
Furthermore, the monitoring is, for the most part, entirely unnecessary. The main problem with deporting people isn’t that they cannot be found or kept track on, but that their origin countries will not accept them, or that deportation constitutes a violation of human rights. Residents of departure centers generally wish to have their cases processed and to be allowed to stay in Denmark. If this wasn’t the case, they would have left already.
Read our response (høringssvar) to the bill here.
Read more about the monitoring requirements and living conditions at Return Center Kærshovedgård here.