COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION CONSIDERS REPORT OF DENMARK
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has considered the combined eighteenth and nineteenth periodic reports of Denmark on its implementation of the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Presenting the report, Allan Jacobsen, the Head of the Human Rights Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, said that the Danish Government continued to focus on measures to prevent and combat racially motivated offences and hate speech and remained committed to ensuring that hate crimes were effectively investigated and prosecuted. As part of these measures, in 2009 the Government presented an action plan titled, “A Common and Safe Future”, which sought to prevent extremist views and radicalization among young people. The Danish Security and Intelligence Service was preparing the launch of a new project which was aimed more directly at the prevention of hate crimes by focusing on awareness raising. The project would include an information campaign which would be designed to target authorities, organizations as well as communities. Another important part of this project would be to further qualify knowledge on committed offences and improve the registration practice within the police.
Mr. Jacobsen went on to say that in relation to migration, the Minister of Integration would launch a campaign this autumn which would focus on the benefits of ethnic diversity in the labour market. The Minister would promote the many positive effects that ethnic diversity could lead to for both private companies and public authorities. These positive effects included new markets, new products, innovation, better service, more satisfied clients, customers and employees. In terms of the field of education, the Danish Government had participated in an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development review on migrant education and earlier this year the Ministry of Education also initiated a recruitment campaign to increase the number of teaching applicants from different ethnic backgrounds.
In preliminary concluding observations, Chris Maina Peter, the Committee Expert who served as country Rapporteur for the report of Denmark, said that the Committee Members had raised fundamental issues and it was important for the delegation to consider these issues when they returned to their capital, including the issue of the Roma, racial profiling and harassment by the police, and Faroe tribal rights. Another issue was the prosecution of discrimination through the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions which was independent, but which also might have what could be considered excessive discretion. The public needed to be protected from this excessive discretion and a law had no power if it was not prosecuted and people needed to be confident that law 266b of the criminal code would be prosecuted by this office.
Other Committee Experts raised questions and asked for further information on subjects pertaining to, among other things, the applicability of the Convention in Danish domestic law, the representation of minorities in the prison population, mother tongue language instruction for immigrant children, efforts to diminish segregation and ghettoization in housing and education, the recruitment of minorities into the police academy and other areas of the civil service, and the treatment of vulnerable women whose residency status might be adversely affected by their decision to leave an abusive relationship. Committee Experts also expressed concerns that new residency permit requirements might favour highly educated people with high incomes and adversely affect lesser educated and poor migrants seeking permanent residency in the country.
The delegation of Denmark included representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Refugee, Immigration and Integration Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Employment, the Department of Foreign Affairs of Greenland Home Rule, and the Permanent Mission of Denmark to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
The Committee will present its written observations and recommendations on the report of Denmark at the end of its session, which concludes on 27 August.
When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m. this afternoon, it will begin consideration of the combined seventh and eight periodic reports of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CERD/C/BIH/7-8).
Report of Denmark
The eighteenth and nineteenth periodic reports of Denmark, submitted in one document (CERD/C/DEN/18-19), states the Government has developed a strategy - “Progress, Innovation and Cohesion” - for pursuing the benefits of globalisation and coping with its challenges. The strategy comprises 350 proposals, of which 187 are in the area of education. The strategy is complemented by the Government’s welfare reform proposals, which focus on getting young people to complete their studies and on improving the integration of immigrants. Inclusion is the keyword for these initiatives and they promote possibilities of full and equal enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The Government shares the Committee’s view on the importance of a constant prevention of racially motivated offences and hate speech. In January 2009, the Danish Government presented its action plan “A Common and Safe Future - an action plan to prevent extremist views and radicalisation among young people”. In this connection hate crimes such as acts of racism are considered part of the phenomenon of extremism. Some of the initiatives in the action plan focus on anti-discrimination efforts.
The Government shares the Committee’s view on the importance of a constant focus on the prevention of discrimination and the rights to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work, to protection against unemployment, to equal pay for equal work and to just and favourable remuneration. Recent statistics show that the unemployment rate among immigrants and descendants originating from countries outside the European Union, North America and the Nordic countries continues to be higher than the unemployment rate among native Danes. This may be due to, among other things, a lack of proficiency in Danish or lack of formal qualifications. Many of the non-Western immigrants have either no education or a very low level of education from their home countries. Furthermore, factors such as lack of insight into the Danish labour market and its possibilities, together with not having a business related network, may play a part in the higher unemployment level for this segment.
Surveys have shown that bilingual students academically perform at significantly lower levels than their ethnic Danish classmates. The education system is aware of the importance of securing equal opportunities in this regard, and a range of initiatives have been taken to address the problem. DKK 70 million (approx. €9.4 million) has been earmarked for the period 2007-2009 for the continuing education of teacher training and social education instructors. In addition, new IT-based language screening tools have been introduced to help teachers assess students’ needs for Danish as a second language. The Ministry of Education has also carried out a comprehensive project, “This Works at Our School!” which aims to identify and disseminate good practice at schools with a large bilingual student population. The project is expected to provide ideas for helping bilingual students learn Danish along with the academic content of all subjects and thus improve their academic performance.
Presentation of Report
ALLAN JACOBSEN, Head of the Human Rights Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, in introducing the report of Denmark, reaffirmed Denmark’s commitment to supporting independent international monitoring of human rights compliance and strengthening its quality as well as enhancing cooperation with civil society organizations working for the implementation of international human rights conventions and declarations.
Mr. Jacobsen went on to update the Committee on substantial developments that had taken place since the periodic report was delivered as well as new projects that would be carried out in the near future. First among these was the fact that Danish Government had, since July 2009, taken additional steps to combat discrimination on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin. To this end, the Government published the “Action Plan on Ethnic Equal Treatment and Respect for the Individual” in July 2010. The new Action Plan included support for local community initiatives, local help for victims of discrimination, a campaign on the respect for the fundamental rights; and research projects on the extent of discrimination.
Secondly, the Danish Government continued to focus on measures to prevent and combat racially motivated offences and hate speech and remained committed to ensuring that hate crimes were effectively investigated and prosecuted. As part of these measures, in 2009 the Government presented an action plan titled, “A Common and Safe Future”, which sought to prevent extremist views and radicalization among young people. The Danish Security and Intelligence Service was preparing the launch of a new project which was aimed more directly at the prevention of hate crimes by focusing on awareness raising. The project would include an information campaign which would be designed to target authorities, organizations as well as communities. Another important part of this project would be to further qualify knowledge on committed offences and improve the registration practice within the police. By ensuring that the police and the prosecution services continued to focus on the prevention and combating of hate crimes, the Danish Government hoped that this would have a positive effect in relation to and serve as an encouragement to victims of these crimes to report racially motivated incidents.
Mr. Jacobsen said that in relation to migration, the Minister of Integration would launch a campaign this autumn which would focus on the benefits of ethnic diversity in the labour market. The Minister would promote the many positive effects that ethnic diversity could lead to for both private companies and public authorities. These positive effects included new markets, new products, innovation, better service, more satisfied clients, customers and employees. In terms of the field of education, the Danish Government had participated in an Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development review on migrant education and earlier this year the Ministry of Education also initiated a recruitment campaign to increase the number of teaching applicants with different ethnic backgrounds.
Also, in March 2010 the Danish parliament adopted a new act concerning birth and death registration. The new act ended the parents’ obligation to inform the ministerial register about the birth of a child. It was now the midwife who assisted in the delivery of the child who took care of contacting the ministerial registry.
Response by the Delegation to Written Questions Submitted in Advance
Responding to the list of issues submitted by the Committee in advance, the delegation said that in 2009, 11 cases of discrimination were received by the Director of Public Prosecutions, 6 of which had been prosecuted and 5 of which were dismissed. In terms of specific actions regarding victims, the delegation realized that not all hate crimes or racially motivated crimes were reported to the police and the Government was aware of the need to create an environment in which people felt safe reporting such crimes. The national police were currently preparing a programme to increase registration of such crimes and encouraging victims to come forward. A special web page had been designed with information on hate crimes and a hotline number for victims to call. A research group was also conducting a study with an aim of identifying why people did not come forward and improving police procedures in relation to such crimes.
The delegation added that the Board of Equal Treatment dealt with complaints of discrimination, including those on the grounds of race. The decisions made by the Board could not be appealed to any other administrative body, although they could file an appeal before the courts.
The delegation then turned to the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. The Refugee Appeals Board was an independent body of three members whose chairman was an appointed judge. The decisions of the Board were final and not subject to judicial review. Since 2009 the Board had reviewed 45 cases, and only 6 cases, or 12 per cent were rejected.
Regarding bilingual education, the delegation said that Denmark was under no obligation to offer mother tongue education to bilingual children and the goal of education offered in Danish primary schools was to prepare children for a life in Denmark by giving them the means necessary to complete an education and succeed in the labour market and thus a grasp of the language was important. The requirement of local municipalities to provide tuition for mother tongue instruction was restricted to European Union, Greenland and Faroe Islands residents. These rules were in place to facilitate the movement of people within the European Union, many of whom would go back to their native countries at some point, and to facilitate the movement of Danish residents among Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Danish Government acknowledged that bilingual students were facing challenges in the education system and that targeted measures were needed in order to help them achieve academic results on par with majority children. Thus, the Danish Government had launched a range of initiatives in order to better equip the education system to accommodate the needs of a more diverse student population. These measures included: revising the curriculum of primary and lower secondary school, emphasizing that second language acquisition should be an integrated part of all subjects; establishing a task force for teaching bilingual children to assist municipalities and schools in their efforts to improve the quality of education offered to bilingual children; financing a research project with the aim of establishing a solid knowledge regarding reading development in multilingual classrooms; and revising teacher education, making knowledge on intercultural education and teaching bilingual children mandatory themes as well as establishing a permanent specialization subject in second language acquisition.
The delegation then said that more applicants of ethnic origin were rejected from the police academy because of criminal backgrounds and because they were more likely to fail the written part of the test. The national police had not been able to pinpoint a reason for this, but one assumption was that the police profession was not considered attractive to these ethnic groups and they sought employment elsewhere. The national police were working closely with educational establishments to increase the diversity of their recruitment pool.
In reference to the Refugee Appeals Board, the delegation said each asylum petition case was examined individually so it could not give general grounds for dismissal of applications. In 2009 the Refugee Board heard 401 cases in all; in 48 cases resident permits were granted under the Geneva Convention and in 56 cases residence permits were granted under protection status. Two hundred and fifty seven cases were rejected, while 41 cases were terminated without decisions.
The delegation conceded that people from non-Western countries had higher unemployment rates that those from western countries, but there was progress being made in integrating immigrants into the labour market. The financial crisis had not impacted the non-western immigrants nearly as hard as people of Danish origin. Barriers to employment included lack of language skills or contacts. A Danish education was the key to the labour market for immigrants. Eighty three per cent of immigrant women with an education were employed compared to 84 per cent of women of Danish origin. The government integration plan of 2006 included a number of initiatives that resulted in an increase in employment for immigrants. However, immigrants were still over represented among the long term unemployed.
Regarding protection of the Roma people, the delegation said that Danish legislation applied to all people regardless of origin, ethnicity or nationality. Everyone who was a legal resident of Denmark had equal access to social services and the public health system. There were a number of laws that outlawed discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, race or origin in all sectors of society. Moreover, specific integration programmes were offered to all newcomers aimed at ensuring that they could participate in all aspect of societies. If a person who lived in Denmark felt that he or she was being discriminated against on the grounds of race or ethnic origin, Danish legislation ensured comprehensive protection against all kinds of discrimination on the grounds of race and ethnic origin. Specific prohibitions against discrimination had been expressed in such documents as the Act on Prohibition of Discrimination on the Grounds of Race and paragraph 266b of the Penal Code on the prohibition against discrimination on the grounds of a person’s race, colour, national or ethnic origin, faith or sexual orientation. Prohibition of labour-market discrimination was addressed in the Act on Prohibition against Discrimination in the Labour Market. The Act on Ethnic Equal Treatment also forbade discrimination in a number of sectors outside the labour market. Everyone residing in Denmark enjoyed equal rights and fundamental freedoms and the Integration Act was in place to support foreigners in becoming participants in the social and economic life of the country and to be on equal footing with other citizens.
The delegation said that legislation could not stand alone, however. A new action plan to promote ethnic equal treatment was launched in July 2010 which contained 21 concrete initiatives, including initiatives to combat discrimination, anti-Semitism and intolerance in all areas of society. The action plan also contained initiatives to promote diversity within the labour market in order to ensure successful labour market integration and stimulate future innovation and growth in Denmark.
Lastly, the delegation addressed the question of indigenous peoples in Denmark. The Danish Supreme Court ruled that the Thule Tribe did not constitute a tribal people or a distinct indigenous people within or co-existing with the Greenlandic people as a whole, which was consistent with the position taken by the Danish Government according to which Denmark had “only one indigenous people” in the sense of the International Labour Organization convention, namely the indigenous population in Greenland of the Inuit. The Danish Government considered the matter concerning the Thule Tribe concluded.
Questions Raised by the Rapporteur and Experts
CHRIS MAINA PETER, the Committee Expert serving as country Rapporteur for the report of Denmark, began his introduction to the discussion with Denmark by noting that since the submission of its initial periodic report 37 years ago in 1973, Denmark had been reporting regularly to the Committee and had been a reliable State party to the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. For those from developing countries, Denmark was a reliable and dependable partner who contributed considerably to their development. Development assistance to developing countries was guided by these core values: democracy; human rights; rule of law; good governance; and zero tolerance for corruption.
For the report of Denmark, five themes had been identified to assist the shaping of the dialogue with the Committee. The first of these themes was the prohibition against the promotion of or incitement to racial hatred and discrimination and judicial remedies. Here the controversy centred on the application of a section of the Danish penal code from 1995 which stated that disseminating statements or other information that was threatening, insulting or degrading to a person or group of persons on account of their race, colour, national or ethnic origin, belief or sexual orientation shall be liable to fines, simple detention or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years. When handing down punishment, it was to be considered as an aggravating circumstance that the statement was in the nature of propaganda. This provision of the penal code had become controversial in its application in practice because of the wide powers enjoyed by the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions when it came to the prosecution of such cases. The police could refer cases to this office where one of three actions would be taken: the office could refuse to commence a case; it could commence a case and then stop it; or it could initiate an investigation with the option to stop at any time. But according to the State party’s report, very few of these cases had been prosecuted by the Director of Public Prosecutions and even fewer had gone to the final conclusion. For instance, between 2004 and 2008 only 13 cases had resulted in a conviction out of 26 charges. Within that same period the Director of Public Prosecutions refused 45 cases, 30 cases had been stopped, and 24 cases had the charges withdrawn.
Mr. Peter said this was very concerning as it discouraged victims of racial discrimination from coming forward and it gave the impression that perpetrators of these crimes would enjoy impunity because the Director of Public Prosecutions would not see the case through. In this regard, Mr. Peter said it would be very helpful to have updated numbers for 2009 in terms of the number of cases received, prosecuted, discontinued, completed and verdicts of the court. The Rapporteur also asked if any measures had been undertaken to encourage victims of hate crimes to report such racially motivated offences to the police. Also, were there any initiatives to trim the discretionary powers of the Director of Public Prosecutions? Mr. Peter asked about discussions surrounding the possible abolition or repeal of this provision in the penal code. Should the Committee take this to mean that by removing this law, Denmark would in effect sanction and licence racism and racial discrimination in the country?
Turning to the situation of asylum seekers and refugees, Mr. Peter said that while the Board of Equal Treatment had been established in 2009 to cover all fields of discrimination within the country, there were still several problems with this body, namely: the Board only received complaints in writing and did not receive oral or verbal statements; the secretariat of the Board could dismiss a letter before it went to the whole board and that was too much power; and the decision of the Board was final and could not be appealed by other administrative authorities. Mr. Peter suggested that the State party might wish to re-examine these issues that might affect an otherwise well meant mechanism for combating racial discrimination.
With regards to the rights of non-citizens and combating prejudices which led to racial discrimination, Mr. Peter said that a number of issues had been raised in relation to the rights of non-citizens such as children and mother tongue tuition; recruitment into the police force; residence permits; family reunification; residence permits for women who were victims of domestic violence; and access to employment for people coming from outside Europe and North America. Mr. Peter asked whether the State would be willing to help support local or private initiatives to support mother-tongue education for immigrant children. With regards to police recruitment, the Rapporteur said perhaps this was an issue that should not be left to the national police commission alone but perhaps the government should take more interest in getting to the root of the problem of why people from ethnic groups were not passing the recruitment exam.
The Alien Act was also amended introducing a 100 point system which people had to meet to
and some of the criteria included: the person had to be 18 years or older, resided in Denmark for four years, not have been sentenced for a crime in the last 18 months, no public debt of more than 100,000 Danish kroner, the person should not have received public assistance for at least three years before submitting their application, they had to sign a declaration on integration and active citizenship, pass a Danish language exam, and they had to have full-time regular employment during the last two and a half to three years before submitting their application for permanent residency. These conditions had to be met to meet the 100 points on the application. Mr. Peter said that he had concerns with some of the criteria such as borrowing and receiving social services. If a person had debt, did this bar you from permanent residency and citizenship? Did it not discriminate against people who could not meet the criteria, particularly refugees and asylum seekers? Didn’t this also fast track applications for the rich and educated and leave out poor people?
Mr. Peter wanted to know whether a planned report on family reunification was available and if it could be provided in English. Mr. Peter also asked for more concrete numbers on the Roma population as well as allegations of racial profiling, deportation of Roma, refusal of access to public places and the condition of the protection of their fundamental rights and freedoms. What concrete measures had been taken to address these Roma arrivals who came to the country after 1990?
In terms of indigenous people, the Committee recommended that the State party allow people to identify themselves and the Human Rights Council reiterated this recommendation in 2008. The Supreme Court of Denmark said that the Faroe Tribe did not maintain its own economic, social and cultural institutions and therefore they were not a distinctive people under the relevant International Labour Organization conventions. Would the delegation be willing to engage the Faroe people on the question of self-identification? Was Denmark leaving this question up to the new self-government of Greenland?
Another Committee Expert said that further measures needed to be taken to more fully incorporate the Convention into Danish law and it should be referred to in court cases more often.
A Committee member said that the Committee received a high number of communications from Denmark and asked why this was so. The Committee Member also remarked that many of the communications dealt with hate speech promulgated by politicians and this could create real dangers for members of target groups. Also, were Roma children integrated into schools?
A Committee member asked what percentage of Inuit was there in the autonomous government of Greenland presently.
The next Committee member said that if the Convention had not been incorporated into Danish law, then there was no need to cite it in court cases or adhere to it in applying the laws.
Another Expert suggested that the burden of proof be removed from the victim of discrimination so that people would not be discouraged from coming forward and filing discrimination complaints. It might also be worthwhile in reducing the powers of the Director of Public Prosecutions as this office figured largely in the communications sent to the Committee. In terms of the Roma, there was a European responsibility to deal with these issues, but first and foremost it was the responsibility of the State on whose territory they lived. What measures had been envisaged that they had access to education, health services, etc. The Council for Equal Treatment was a complaints Committee that could receive complaints and cancel unjustified layoffs and had looked at 254 cases. Were there any cases that been appealed to courts after the complaints board had handed down its decision?
One Committee Expert wondered how the delegation envisioned getting beyond the “us” and “them” view of society where everyone was seen as being Danish versus as people who were outside of the larger Danish society.
Intervention by the Danish Institute for Human Rights
JONAS CHRISTOFFERSEN, Executive Director of the Danish Institute for Human Rights, began his intervention by saying that there had been a number of positive initiatives undertaken by the Danish Government in the area of racial discrimination and the promotion of racial diversity since the Committee last examined the country in 2006. For example, the Board of Equal Treatment was established and now there was a “one stop shop” complaints institution, and the Action Plan on Ethnic Equal Treatment and Respect for the Individual had made it out of the Ministry of Integration recently. Mr. Christoffersen said he hoped the initiatives in the Action Plan would be carried out and supported by adequate funding.
However, there were still problems that needed to be addressed including racial profiling, hate speech, hate crimes, the status of asylum seekers and refugees, the rights of non-citizens, access to permanent residence and the status of the Roma in Denmark. On the issue of ethnic profiling, Mr. Christoffersen said that further documentation, analysis and research was required to monitor developments in Denmark on this matter. With regard to hate speech, Mr. Christoffersen agreed with the Committee that the practice of the public prosecutors lacked clarity and in some instances, cases that seemed ripe for investigation and prosecution were not investigated and prosecuted. However, he would be very concerned if the Committee suggested that the powers of the prosecutor be circumscribed in any way whatsoever. The powers of the prosecutors were defined in the Administration of Justice Act and covered all fields of criminal investigation. Such recommendations would be quite foreign to Danish law and its credibility would not be high. Mr. Christoffersen suggested that it be recommended that the Department of Public Prosecution provide general information on its practice in this field in order to give the public insight into the prosecution practice that can then be debated publicly. Moreover, victims’ rights of access to justice, including effective remedies in case of a lack of investigation and prosecution, should be secured. But the Government could not be asked to change a generally well-functioning and clearly legitimate prosecution system in Denmark.
In the field of hate crimes, Mr. Christoffersen said this was a very serious matter and the Danish Institute was happy to note the Government’s dedication to this matter. Mr. Christoffersen trusted that the Committee would work out recommendations to assist the Government in maintaining focus on the matter and securing a nationwide initiative rather than leaving the initiative to the city of Copenhagen, the Copenhagen Police, and national human rights institutions.
Mr. Christoffersen then turned to asylum seekers by saying that in light of the serious hardships facing asylum seekers and refugees during prolonged proceedings and in particular facing rejected asylum seekers that could not be expelled, it would be appropriate that the Committee request further information on the matter in the next periodic report.
On the issue of ethnic women in abusive relationships, Mr. Christoffersen said that it was commendable that there had been an increase in the number of women in abusive relationships being granted resident permits despite not fulfilling the ordinary requirements. However, numbers could be deceiving. Perhaps the increase in the number of abused women given protection indicated that there was an increase in the number of women needing protection. Mr. Christoffersen wanted to know how many cases were rejected, did more women need protection because residency requirements had been tightened over the years, and was the number of women in need of protection stable, but they were receiving better help now? Mr. Christoffersen also pointed out that in the future residency requirements would be even stricter and he foresaw an increase in the need to protect vulnerable women. Ethnic minority women who had been in abusive relationships would have grave difficulties in fulfilling the new requirements for permanent residency; their vulnerability would simply increase as a consequence of the new rules. Mr. Christoffersen hoped that the Committee would take the seriously situation of vulnerable women into account and provide them with assistance in securing an increased governmental focus on the matter in the future.
With regard to access to permanent residence, Mr. Christoffersen said that the Committee should request further information on the impact of the new law in the next periodic report of Denmark. In terms of the situation of the Roma in Denmark, Mr. Christoffersen felt it was appropriate to request further information not only on measures taken to improve the situation, but also information on the situation on the ground. The scope of the challenge in Denmark needed to be identified before it was assumed that the situation of the Roma required special attention in comparison to other ethnic minorities in Denmark. However, Mr. Christoffersen welcomed the Committee’s focus on a pan-European approach to this issue.
Response by Delegation
Addressing concerns expressed about incorporation of the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the delegation said that prior to the ratification of treaties a full examination had to be undertaken to ensure that all Danish laws were in conformance with the treaty. This was done in 1973 when Denmark acceded to the treaty as ratification of an international treaty was not taken lightly. There was a rule of presumption that Danish law was in compliance with treaties, but this did not bar judges from applying treaty law in cases. As Committee Members had pointed out, Denmark continued to be the country with the highest number of communications filed with the Committee and the delegation said this could be because a number of cases of hate speech were not prosecuted in Denmark while another possible explanation could be that knowledge of the Convention was relatively good in Denmark and people availed themselves of their right to file communications with the Committee.
Turning to the questions raised by Committee Experts regarding hate crimes and the powers of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the delegation explained that the Danish prosecution authorities operated under a strict principle of objectivity regarding all cases of alleged breaches of the criminal code. The delegation agreed that hate crimes required special attention and that was why there was a special reporting scheme for complaints filed under provision 266b of the criminal code (pertaining to hate speech) to ensure a uniform and objective application of the law. The majority of cases concerning 266b were rejected on the grounds that they did not meet the legal standards under 266b or for a lack of evidence. In terms of comments said during the course of political campaigns or political debates, the courts had ruled that tolerance of other people’s opinions was needed for the functioning of a democratic and open society, while still respecting the rights of other people not to be insulted. Recently, parliament had voted to remove the parliamentary immunity of a member of the opposition party for comments that had been made by the politician.
The delegation then answered questions regarding the Board of Equal Treatment. To make the process for filing a complaint easier for complainants, the process was designed to have clear and easy cases described in writing to speed up the process and make it more efficient and cost effective. Many cases were easily described in writing. With regards to the Board, it had been praised in the European Council for its efficiency and held up as a model. It was true that the secretariat could reject a case, but this decision could be appealed to the Board. The Board’s decisions could not be appealed as it was not an administrative body or a court, but one could say that the courts functioned as an appeals mechanism for the Board of Equal Treatment.
On the issue of new rules for permanent residence permits, the delegation said that the new rules were a whole new way of looking at permanent residency and designed to create a direct link between integration and residency. Foreigners who were well integrated could get residency in four years, even faster than before while those who were not well integrated would find it more difficult to receive permanent residency. The delegation said that one could earn the 100 points needed in different ways, such as consistent full time work, so there were ways in which people that were not highly educated or well off could earn permanent residency. The delegation said that having debt or borrowing money from a bank would not influence residency decisions, but having overdue public debt such as unpaid taxes would impact one’s changes of obtaining residency. Refugees had to meet the same requirements as other people, but if they did not this did not mean that they had to leave the country. The delegation emphasized that the reasoning behind the rules was to increase integration by linking it to permanent residency permits.
The Danish Government had a strategy against ghetto-ization which aimed at further inclusion and integration in Denmark. It was a strategy to prevent marginalization, not to prevent ethnic groupings. Marginalization was a barrier to integration and this was most often seen in social housing with people marginalized from employment opportunities or educational attainment and many social problems could be seen in these public housing developments. There had been a drop in so-called “deprived areas” (areas where 50 per cent of more of residents were on social welfare) due to the strategy. In 2007 there were 23 neighbourhoods that fit the criteria of a deprived area, and in 2008 this number was down to 20 neighbourhoods. The challenges of making this strategy work included increasing safety, schooling and employment in these areas. In this regard, the Government was developing an updated strategy to turn deprived areas into prosperous neighbourhoods.
A Committee Expert had asked if there were jobs that were reserved for native born citizens or jobs that were not open to foreigners or immigrants. The delegation said that only in the case where citizenship was relevant to the job would this discrimination be allowed, such as a high position in the Ministry of Defence. In reality, discrimination was often based on ethnic origin and not nationality or citizenship and this was illegal.
In terms of mother tongue education, the Danish Government felt resources were better used to strengthen early Danish language education and teacher training. The Government did not support assimilation, but the purpose of the Danish education system was to prepare students to be successful in the Danish labour market. Children from European Union countries, Greenland and the Faroe Islands were offered mother tongue education because it was understood that they would return to their countries of origin at some point and they needed to have the language skills to do so. This facilitated movement between the European Union, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. There was no scientific consensus that mother tongue tuition was needed to help bilingual children succeed in school. On the issue of Roma children and education, absentee classes or so-called “Roma classes” were found to be illegal and shut down in 2005 and since then there have been no segregated classes in Denmark.
Regarding questions on police recruitment and the lack of minorities accepted to the national police college, the delegation said that in addition to fewer ethnic candidates passing the entrance exam for the police college, once they were accepted ethnic trainees often dropped out of the police college more often than trainees with a native background. For this reason, a mentorship programme had been established to help ethnic trainees complete their training at the academy.
Lastly, the delegation turned to questions regarding indigenous people in Denmark, particularly the situation in Greenland. The delegation referred the Committee to several reports that explained Greenland’s self-government and its relationship to Denmark. The most important aspects of home rule in Greenland included the recognition of Greenlanders as a people under international definitions with the right to self rule, the recognition of the right of Greenlanders to all natural resources in Greenland and collective land ownership, the recognition of Greenland as the official language, but Danish continued to be taught in school along with English and other elective languages. The Greenland language was an Inuit language spoken in the United States, Canada, Denmark and Greenland. Greenland also enjoyed the right to independence which would allow it to be a member of the United Nations as its own country. In terms of the makeup of Greenland’s parliament, the delegation said that 100 per cent of the parliament was Greenlander as all members of the body were of Inuit descent.
With regards to creating a society that did not have an “us” and “them” attitude, the Government had committed itself to a number of initiatives aimed at integration and inclusion.
Further Questions Posed by Experts
A Committee Expert asked whether the State was looking at the participation of minorities in all areas of the civil service, not just the police academy, and whether there were opportunities for promotion as well as entry into civil service. The Committee Expert also asked the delegation to expound on the difference between integration and assimilation because in the case of the Roma for example, those who arrived before 1960 were said to be fully integrated into Danish society, but there was a question of whether they had been integrated or assimilated. The Expert also asked about further information for the employment of minority women because saying that 83 per cent of them were employed did not give any information on the types of employment they were engaged in and how it compared to the work performed by non-minority Danish women. Also, were there any special mechanisms in place to help vulnerable women from ethnic minorities? Regarding home rule for Greenland, what sort of protections were in place to ensure the protection of identity for the indigenous population?
Another Committee member said that it would be helpful to have disaggregated data on the prison population as they found this to be a good indicator of racism. The Expert also asked if Denmark would be involved in the year to commemorate people of African descent.
A Committee Expert asked about the duration of stays in asylum centres for asylum seekers while their cases were being decided. The Expert also asked whether the natural catastrophes that had taken place recently in Russia, Pakistan and Iceland had any impact on the environmental policy of Denmark given the results of the Copenhagen Summit.
The delegation was asked about xenophobia and hate speech by political figures and certain political parties. If the Committee Expert understood correctly, this speech would fall under provision 266b of the criminal code. It was the Committee’s position that if comments were made during a political debate, this did not free the State party of opening an investigation into statements that may be hate speech. Did the delegation share this view?
The last Committee member to speak made two comments, one involving the incorporation of the Convention in Danish legislation and the other involving hate speech. If Danish courts took the Convention into consideration in cases, this would not be an issue. This needed to be taken into account at some point and the Expert wondered if these Conventions were really respected and taken into account in courts. Were there barriers to taking these Conventions into account in courts? If the issue wasn’t dealt with it would be a problem for years to come in Denmark. The prosecutor’s office was tasked with dealing with hate speech, but this was still a person who might have their own prejudices and points of view so it was important to find a way to deal with some of these cases. Could plaintiffs who complained of discrimination appeal to courts in a civil procedure and ask for damages, leaving aside the criminal aspect that the prosecutor’s office did not deal with?
Replies by Delegation
Responding to those questions and others, the delegation said that the State encouraged the number of applicants other than Danish who applied to the police academy. The Danish police considered applicants other than Danish as a great resource and they were trying to promote law enforcement as a profession among these groups because they felt it was important to have a police force that reflected the society. These officers were also used as role models for young people in communities with backgrounds other than Danish so they had someone to look up to and to deter them from being attracted to a criminal career.
In terms of the Roma, the delegation agreed with Mr. Christoffersen of the Danish Institute for Human Rights that they needed a better grasp of the situation on the ground to determine how widespread the problem of discrimination was against this group to better address the issue. Regarding assimilation versus integration, the delegation did not see it as a State task to maintain minority culture, but they did think it was important to create a framework where minority children could express their culture in school and this included intercultural education that was integrated into the curriculum.
The delegation said that vulnerable women who were abused by their spouses were allowed to stay in the country for up to two years and their residence permit could be renewed as long as they met the residency requirements and hopefully at some point they would meet the requirements for permanent residency. The new residency rules did not mean that abused women would be forced to leave the country if they left their husbands.
There was a strong ethnic identity in Greenland and being Inuit was central to being a Greenlander: it was celebrated and highly important, treasured and expressed in the national culture. Their language was spoken on the radio and in school, but in order to be understood by the majority it was important to speak in a common Inuit language. It was spoken by 50,000 people and it was costly to develop and maintain this language, but money was being invested to truly make it the first language of Greenland.
The delegation said that while it did have numbers on the prison population, they were quite extensive and the delegation did not have time to extrapolate the numbers in the short period of time allotted, but they would be included in the next report if the Committee would like that.
The delegation said that the Danish Government was very focused on the impact of climate change on the traditional ways of indigenous peoples. On the question of asylum seekers, most cases were decided within a year and people resided in an asylum centre for the duration of the consideration of their case. If an application was rejected and an asylum seeker did not leave Denmark, they were technically residing in the country illegally. The Government sought to help families with children so it had made it possible for rejected asylum seekers with children to move out of asylum centres into housing to enable them to live a more normal life. Rejected asylum seekers could not work, but they had rights to travel around the country and were not locked up in the asylum centres. They could visit friends or participate in cultural events as long as they stayed in the asylum centre regularly. In terms of appealing decisions by the Refugee Appeals Board, the delegation said it was the Government’s position that this was a court like body which gave asylum seekers due process and had the standards of a court system. Therefore, it was the position of the Government that decisions by this Board should not be subject to judicial review.
In terms of comments that could be considered hate speech made during the course of a political debate, the delegation said the Government fully shared the Committee’s views that a country should not hide behind freedom of expression in order not to prosecute incidences of hate speech. Some of the cases that had been rejected were statements made by politicians during political debates and the prosecution had to take into account the nature and severity of the statement as well as the situation in which the statement was expressed. There were cases in which charges had been filed against politicians for statements which were believed to be of an insulting or degrading nature and contrary to section 266b of the criminal code. One case had been filed in June and was awaiting the decision of the courts.
Regarding discrimination complaints and whether plaintiffs could file civil cases, the delegation said this had not been tried in the country and there was a debate about whether such as a case would be possible. It was hard to envision a case in which this would happen.
Preliminary Concluding Remarks
In preliminary concluding remarks, CHRIS MAINA PETER, the Committee Expert who served as country Rapporteur for the report of Denmark, said that the Committee members had raised fundamental issues which the delegation had endeavoured to reply to. It was important for the delegation to consider these issues when they returned to their capital, including the issue of the Roma, racial profiling and harassment by the police, and Faroe tribal rights. Another issue was the prosecution of discrimination through the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions which was independent, but which also might have what could be considered excessive discretion. The public needed to be protected from this excessive discretion and a law had no power if it was not prosecuted and people needed to be confident that the law 266b of the criminal code would be prosecuted by this office. Committee Members had noted that the Convention was not very applicable in Denmark and reasons had been given as to why this was the situation, but Denmark might wish to consider incorporation of the Convention into domestic law. Mr. Peter said that the Committee appreciated the initiatives undertaken by the State party to combat racial discrimination, but these initial observations were his own and the Committee would provide its concluding observations at the end of the session.
For use of the information media; not an official record
CERD10/027E