Statement comes after Denmark controversially refused to renew residency permits of 94 Syrian refugees
People demonstrate in front of the parliament building in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 6 October 2015, against the poor treatment of refugees (Soeren Bidstrup/Scanpix Denmark/AFP) By Published date: 20 April 2021 18:03 UTC | Last update: 21 hours 20 min ago
A group of experts who were consulted by the Danish government for a report that declared parts of Syria safe - allowing authorities to revoke residency permits for Syrians - criticised Denmark s controversial stance on Monday, saying that no Syrian refugee was safe enough to be forced to return.
Eight of the 12 experts consulted for the 2019 report wrote in a joint statement that their expert opinion, background information and other advice to the Danish Immigration Service was underappreciated .
Agence France-Presse.
Danish immigration laws allow temporary residence permits to be issued without an expiration if there s a particularly harsh situation in the permit holder s country of origin. However, the permits can be revoked once conditions have improved in a holder s home country.
Currently, over 35,000 Syrians live in Denmark, with more than half arriving after 2015, fleeing civil conflict and persecution.
Aya Abo Daher, a 20-year-old who recently graduated from a Danish high school, said she received a letter from the country s authorities that her and her parents residency permits would not be renewed. I was so sad. I felt so foreign, like everything in Denmark had been taken away from me, Abo Daher said, according to
COPENHAGEN: Denmark is facing growing criticism for a decision last year to revoke residence permits for Syrian refugees, citing a “safe” situation around Damascus, but the country is sticking to its position.
The tough Danish stance is a new sign of the country now having one of Europe’s most restrictive migration policies.
“No other country in Europe has adopted such a policy,” Niels-Erik Hansen, a lawyer specializing in migration issues, told AFP.
In the last election in 2019, the Social Democrats, headed by Mette Frederiksen, adopted a restrictive line on immigration and managed to take power from the conservative government propped up by the far-right Danish People’s Party.