Denmark is pressing ahead with the reform of the asylum law – swissinfo.ch

The Danish Parliament is adamant Thursday and advanced processing a controversial amendment to the asylum law, although critics say violates international conventions.

For the latter, Copenhagen seeks to make the country less attractive to asylum seekers, demanding they hand over some of their valuables and cutting right to family reunification have access to refugees.

After a first meeting ten days ago, the Danish Parliament met again on Thursday to discuss the text, after a leftist parliamentarian requested a marginal modification of an item. After rejecting the request for amendment expeditiously, Parliament continued with the agenda.

Since it was launched in December by the Minister of Immigration and Integration, Inger Støjberg, the bill was modified to address the criticisms and get them to support the majority of MPs.

The project will be voted on January 26, in a round that provides easy after Monday’s liberal Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, who governs in minority, will set agreements with its partners and other formations.

On Tuesday, the government parties -made up the liberal Venstre and the right partners, the Danish People’s Party, the Liberal Alliance and the Conservative People’s Party reached an agreement with the Social Democrats, the main party opposition.

By coincidence, the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kristian Jensen, will attend Thursday to Geneva for a general audience about politics and human rights in his country, an ordinary procedure to which they are subject periodically the 193 UN member states.

– “Fear and xenophobia” –

The law feeds “fear and xenophobia,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). If the text finally adopted, the police will register migrants and confiscate the money exceeding 10,000 kroner (1,340 euros), as well as objects whose value exceeds 10,000 crowns.

Migrants they may however keep the goods “with special sentimental value” like jewelry, medals or family portraits.

However, the main criticism of international institutions and organizations defending human rights concerns hardening of the mechanisms and deadlines for family reunification, which extends from one year to three the period within which an asylum seeker may request that his family travel to the host country.

The Deputy Director of Amnesty International NGOs, Gauri van Gulik, considers that this reform is a “discrimination” against a type of migrants and refugees, especially vulnerable.

Denmark, with 21,000 asylum applications in 2015, is one of the countries of the European Union has received more requests in relation to its population (5.4 million), behind Finland, Austria, Germany and Sweden, which received 163,000.