PRESSEMEDDELELSE den 30. september 2009
fra SOS mod Racisme
Nørre Allé 7, 2200 Kbh. N sos@sosmodracisme.dk www.sosmodracisme.dk

Appel til andre lande
om ikke at sende afviste irakiske asylansøgere
tilbage til Danmark

Foreningen SOS mod Racisme og Foreningen af Udlændingeretsadvokater udsendte den 30. september 2009 nedenstående pressemeddelelse.

SOS mod Racisme og Foreningen af Udlændingeretsadvokater har appelleret til en række europæiske lande samt USA og Canada, om ikke at sende irakere, der er flygtet fra Danmark, tilbage til Danmark, men i stedet give dem international beskyttelse.

Grunden til dette er, at Danmark tilbagesender afviste asylansøgere til Irak, hvor de risikerer forfølgelse, tortur og umenneskelig behandling, skønt de er advaret herimod af FN’s Flygtningeorganisation, UNHCR.

Tilbagesendelse til et land med stor risiko for forfølgelse, tortur og umenneskelig eller nedværdigende behandling kaldes refoulement, og dette er ikke tilladt efter Flygtningekonventionen og andre menneskerettighedskonventioner.

Appellen er kopieret ind nedenfor.

Anne Nielsen,
Formand for SOS mod Racisme.

 
Copenhagen, September 30, 2009

          
SOS Against Racism, Nørre Allé 7, 2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
e-mail: sos@sosmodracisme.dk   
www.sosmodracisme.dk

We urge you: Please do not return asylum seekers to Denmark!

To the governments of the following countries:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland,
France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain,
Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, and United
States of America  

cc:
LIBE, The European Parliament, The European Commission, UNHCR, IOM, OSCE,
Council of Europe, Amnesty International

SOS Against Racism, Denmark and The Lawyers' Association for asylum and
immigration law appeal to the above named countries not to return to Denmark
rejected asylum seekers who have fled from asylum centres in Denmark. The reason
for our appeal is that Denmark forcibly returns refugees to Iraq in spite of
warnings by the UNHCR that this may lead to refoulement. Thus, Denmark does not
fulfil its obligations under the European Convention of Human Rights, the UN
Convention of Refugees, the UN Convention against Torture, and the UN Convention
of the Child.

Denmark is now forcibly deporting rejected Iraqi asylum seekers, who have
previously stayed in Denmark during 3 - 11 years. Some Iraqis are at the moment
in a Danish detention centre. Till now 35 rejected asylum seekers have been
forcibly deported to Baghdad, escorted by Danish police, some of them stem from
Central Iraq, and some belong to minority groups at special risks for
persecution. We know that most of those returned have had to hide away because
of persecution or fear of persecution, and that there was an attempt to kidnap
the son of one of the deported. Five of the asylum seekers forcibly deported on
September 2 were arrested upon arrival in Baghdad Airport, according to our
information they were released after about one week.

The "UNHCR eligibility guidelines for assessing the international protection
needs of Iraqi asylum-seekers" 1 from April 2009 states: "In view of the serious
human rights violations and ongoing security incidents which are continuing in
the country, most predominantly in the five Central Governorates of Baghdad,
Diyala, Kirkuk, Ninewa and Salah Al-Din, UNHCR continues to consider all Iraqi
asylum seekers from these five Central Governorates to be in need of
international protection". UNHCR has underlined this in a letter to the Danish
government of May 28 2009 2, and said that any compulsory return of Iraqis from
central Iraq may lead to refoulement of refugees. Refoulement is not allowed for
any contracting state party according to the above mentioned human rights
conventions. In the Danish newspaper, Politiken on September 8 2009 3 UNHCR
Nordic Office Media Spokeswoman Hanne Mathisen in Stockholm stated: "A state
that sends rejected asylum seekers from the central regions of Iraq back to that
part of the country is carrying out a policy that violates UNHCR guidelines and
contravenes the requirements of the convention on non-refoulement."

The European Parliament's Committee, LIBE, had after visiting Danish asylum
centres on April 10 - 11  2008 urged Denmark to review all cases of rejected
Iraqi asylum seekers with a view to granting them some form of international
protection 4.

Most of the Iraqi rejected asylum seekers in Denmark are from the five central
governorates. But neither the Ministry of Integration, nor the Refugees Appeal
Board have for this reason allowed a renewed treatment of their case, and it is
not possible to appeal the decisions from the Refugees Appeal Board to a Danish
court or to the Danish Ombudsman.

UNHCR and Amnesty International and a vast number of Danish human rights
organisations have expressed sharp criticism of the Danish government's forced
deportations. Lots of appeals have been made that the Iraqi refugees will at
least be granted a permission to stay in Denmark on humanitarian grounds, but
the Danish government has not wished to do so.

Besides the current case about forced deportations of Iraqi asylum seekers,
asylum seekers and rejected asylum seekers are treated very badly in Denmark.
The underlying agenda is that Denmark wishes to receive as few asylum seekers as
possible, and to grant asylum to the fewest possible. Furthermore, the
definition of a refugee used by the Ministry of Integration and by the Refugees
Appeal Board is narrowed compared to the definition in the UN Convention of
Refugees. According to current Danish practice a person will only be granted
asylum if he or she can prove or make it very likely that he or she will be
individually persecuted upon return to Iraq 5, e.g. if the asylum seeker has
near relatives who have been murdered or tortured. This is a serious distortion
of the purpose of the Convention of Refugees, and one reason why only few asylum
seekers of those in need are granted asylum in Denmark.

If rejected asylum seekers do not leave Denmark voluntarily, they are punished
with so-called "motivational measures" in order to make them sign a contract
that they will leave the country voluntarily. Among other things this includes:
control at the Danish police usually 1 - 2 times a week, they only receive very
little cash money for nutrition, or food allowances, they are moved to a
deportation centre, and they may be imprisoned with no maximal duration but
generally up to two years 6. These measures put deliberate pressure on them to
leave the country voluntarily. The reason why very few actually do sign, is fear
of persecution in the country they have fled from.

About this LIBE warned Denmark in its conclusion of its report after the visit
in 2008: " It seems paradoxical to urge people to return voluntarily to a
country to which Denmark itself cannot send them back under international law
and because of the prohibition on all forms of inhuman or degrading treatment by
ricochet. Your rapporteur calls on the Danish Government to create a clear legal
status for those persons, along the lines of subsidiary protection, with a view
to their integration." 4

Some rejected Iraqi asylum seekers have been in Denmark up to 11 years, during
which time they have lived in a limbo. Many asylum seekers and their families
break down mentally during this period, stressed by their incertain future and a
meaningless life. They are denied basic human rights such as the right to work
and to education and to settle where they want. Asylum seekers' children may be
allowed, but do not have the right to education in public schools in Denmark,
and many have received little and inadequate education without a possibility for
a concluding exam when they finish school.

These refugees have been subjected to so much suffering in Denmark, and in spite
of this they have tried to resist deportation to Iraq - since this alternative
with its high risks of being killed is even worse. Many of the refugees now live
hidden in Denmark to avoid deportation.

We appeal to your country that you will not return these persons to Denmark if
they arrive in your country since they risk refoulement, but in stead give them
international protection.

Yours sincerely

Anne Nielsen, chairman, and Birgitte Olesen, vice chairman, SOS Against Racism,
Denmark
Contact: sos@sosmodracisme.dk  / telephone: +45 51 90 71 66 (Anne Nielsen)

Helge Norrung, Spokesman on asylum, the Lawyers' Association for asylum and
immigration law
Contact: hn@norlaw.dk   / telephone: +45 22 77 24 06 (Helge Nørrung)

1
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/search?page=search&docid=4a2640852&query=UNHCR
eligibility guidelines for assessing the international protection needs of Iraqi
asylum-seekers

2 http://www.sosmodracisme.econtent.dk/?download=694914.pdf

3 http://politiken.dk/newsinenglish/article783911.ece

4 http://www.sosmodracisme.econtent.dk/?download=final report as adopted DK.doc

5
http://www.fln.dk/da-dk/English/General+information+regarding+the+Danish+Refugee+Appeals+Board/General+Information+regarding+the+Refugee+Appeals+Board.htm

6
http://www.sosmodracisme.econtent.dk/index.php?download=TotheEuropeanParliament.pdf