Denmark Feels Heat Again Over Treatment of Foreigners
(Bloomberg) -- Denmark is once again grabbing international headlines for its treatment of foreigners.
This week, the United Nations expressed "serious concern" about Danish plans to relocate rejected asylum seekers and convicted immigrants to a small island that was once used for animal testing.
“We've seen the negative impact of such policies of isolation, and (governments) should not replicate these policies,” UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet told reporters in Geneva. “Because depriving them of their liberty, isolating them, and stigmatizing them will only increase their vulnerability."
The island of Lindholm, which is located in the center of a bay about 100 kilometers south of Copenhagen, was once used to study contagious diseases affecting cows and pigs.
Plans to turn it into a center for unwanted migrants who can't be sent home -- many of whom are Muslim -- are the result of a budget agreement reached last week between the center-right government of Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and the Danish People's Party, which has been the main driving force behind Denmark's crackdown on immigration.
“These people are, in one way or another, criminals and they are people who pose a threat for the safety of the state,” Integration Minister Inger Stojberg told Danish media. Creating a new center on Lindholm will help us have “much better control over these people,” she said.
Read more about how the public relations fallout of Denmark's immigration policy
Denmark's tighter immigration policy has in part been blamed for a shortage of labor following years of solid growth. A string of controversial cases has coincided with difficulties in the country to attract skilled workers from abroad.
The UN said there are enough examples to show that such isolation tactics as those now planned in Denmark tend to backfire. Australia has in the past come under fire from the U.N. for establishing immigration detention facilities on remote islands likened by critics to concentration camps.
--With assistance from Christian Wienberg.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nick Rigillo in Copenhagen at nrigillo@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tasneem Hanfi Brögger at tbrogger@bloomberg.net
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
-
High US Salaries, No Green Card Certainty: The Financial Calculation Facing Indian H-1B Families
The suspension of PERM processing at eight technology employers does not cancel existing H-1B visas. What it does is force a question many Indian families have been avoiding: is the US salary worth tying your career and family plans to one employer?
-
Swiggy vs Eternal: Food Delivery's Two Rivals Are No Longer In The Same Race
Eternal is building a private AI assistant, dark.ai. Swiggy is still working out how to make Instamart pay, with an operating loss of Rs 895 crore in the July-September quarter while Blinkit stayed profitable.
-
Where You Live Shapes How You Get To Work | The Reason Why
Two-wheelers are the most popular way to get to work in India, accounting for nearly 43% of workplace commutes.
-
Unhedged Position: Can India See An Indonesia-Style Time Correction?
The Nifty is trading below levels it first clocked in 2024. Is there, then, as I have suggested in the headline, potential that the current time correction drags on painfully for the next three-five, even ten years?
-
Navigating Friction And Energy Realities: An Analysis Of Marco Rubio's October Visit To India
Occurring at a critical juncture marked by stalled trade negotiations and escalating geopolitical pressures over global energy supplies, the visit offers a profound window into modern US-India relations.
-
India Exports Capital. Why Not Export Trusteeship?
The big question, then, is whether India can build an institution that global borrowers, investors, banks, and lawyers can trust, even without an Indian connection.
-
France's Economy & Politics Are In Crisis | The Reason Why
Let's look at how the French economy and politics evolved under Nicolas Sarkozy, Franois Hollande and Emmanuel Macron.
-
You May Inherit The Business. You Must Earn Its Credibility.
Succession tests the founder's ability to share authority as much as it tests the next generation's readiness to assume it.
-
Signing Deals Is One Thing; Making Them Work Is Another | The Week In Whys
Sometimes, things don't turn out as planned. Indian companies have lost some bids to rivals, some projects won't produce until 2030.
-
FOMC Wall, PERM Suspension, Hospital Stocks | Talking Points This Week
A PERM suspension would directly affect green-card sponsorship rather than H-1B visas, so the near-term earnings impact could remain relatively limited. The key question is whether this marks a new phase in US scrutiny of Indian IT.
