“"How do you sleep at night?!" A European parliamentarian asks Danish Minister for Immigration and Integration, Mattias Tesfaye.
According to what local media published a short while ago, the Minister for Foreigners and Integration, Mattias Tesfaye, attended a session in the European Parliament today, Thursday, to answer questions about Danish asylum policy. The Danish minister was asked to appear before the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Rights to explain several matters related to the Danish government's practice of returning Syrian refugees to parts of war-torn Syria that the Danish authorities consider safe.
This practice has been criticized by many parties in the European Union, with the European Parliament opposing Danish asylum laws and the Danish government's assertions that returns to Syria are legal.
European Parliamentarian Sophie in Veld from the Netherlands (from a center-right party) addressed a question to Minister Tsvae, saying: “I have one urgent question. How do you sleep at night?” She continued: “I don’t understand how people are being sent back!” She also referred to international obligations, the Geneva Convention and human rights.
Danish Minister Tesfaye defended himself by saying that the Danish government does not practice any kind of coercion: “We do not turn our backs on anyone and we do not force anyone to return to Syria (...) We do not recognize the Syrian regime, but there are a number of Syrians who are returning voluntarily with money from the Danish state, and I think this is perfectly fine.”
Asylum in other EU countries
Several EU countries have accused Denmark of undermining Schengen cooperation after it was revealed that many Syrians from Damascus who lost their temporary residence permits in Denmark had traveled to other EU countries to seek asylum, fearing being returned to Syria by Danish authorities. However, Denmark is bound by the so-called Dublin Regulation, which states that refugees cannot seek asylum in more than one EU country, and therefore must be returned to Denmark if they are first registered as refugees there.
Therefore, many members of the European Parliament believe that Denmark is violating EU asylum laws. Cyrus Engerer, a Maltese Social Democrat, said: “We see that the situation in Damascus has not improved, yet Denmark wants to take back vulnerable people. When Denmark does not have an agreement with Syria to take back Syrians, the Danish government is doing nothing but taking a group of vulnerable people and encouraging them to visit other EU countries and try their luck there.”.
Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany together have requested the return of a total of 400 Syrians to Denmark since the Danish government adopted a policy of cancelling the residence permits of some Syrians in 2019. However, the total number of Syrians traveling from Denmark to another EU country is likely much higher, according to EUobserver.
Reception centers in third countries
Tsvehemently also said during the session that Denmark is in dialogue with a number of countries outside Europe (as a third party) to establish a reception center for asylum seekers there. However, many parliamentarians in the European Union are questioning how Denmark will guarantee the rights of asylum seekers in a country outside the European Union.
During the session, Tsevay argued that some assumptions are wrong, such as that Syria is not safe, and based on basic human rights principles, it is wrong to work with dictatorial regimes and countries that we know actively violate human rights.
Rasmus Andersen, a German member of the European Parliament from the Green Party, commented: “Tsvehemently refuses to tell the countries with which Denmark plans to cooperate that the minister has ill intentions.”.
It is worth noting that in May 2021, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Denmark had concluded two cooperation agreements with Rwanda in the field of asylum and migration. This announcement came after a visit to Rwanda, where Matthias Tesfaye met with Flemming Møller Mortensen, the Rwandan government’s Minister of Development Cooperation. However, Tesfaye did not mention the location of these centers during Thursday’s session, but he hopes that such an initiative will inspire other European countries to follow suit.
Source: TV2
