Amnesty International Report 2014/15 - Denmark

Kingdom of Denmark
Head of state: Queen Margrethe II
Head of government: Helle Thorning-Schmidt

The government refused to investigate allegations of unlawful surveillance practices following revelations by US whistleblower Edward Snowden. Legislation was amended to criminalize sexual abuse by a spouse. Asylum determination practices for lesbian, gay and bisexual asylum-seekers improved. Vulnerable asylum-seekers were held in detention.

Counter-terror and security

In June 2013, following revelations by whistleblower Edward Snowden about the US National Security Agency's mass surveillance of data traffic in European countries in co-operation with European intelligence agencies, Danish MPs and the public called on the Danish government to disclose whether foreign intelligence agencies had carried out or were carrying out surveillance activities in Denmark and, if so, whether this included surveillance of Danish citizens. The government announced in response that it did "not find reason to believe" that US intelligence agencies were carrying out "illegal surveillance activities targeting Denmark or Danish interests". The government refused to investigate whether any such agencies had operated or were operating on Danish territory and to present an overview of the applicable laws clarifying the distinction between lawful and unlawful surveillance activities.

Police and security forces

In October, a joint working group of the National Police and the Police Trade Union presented a report on the introduction of identification numbers on police uniforms. The proposals lacked clarity on the visibility required of any such identification numbers.

Violence against women and girls

In June 2013, Parliament amended the criminal code to criminalize sexual abuse by a spouse where the victim was in a "helpless state" and to annul the possibility of reduced or rescinded criminal punishment if the perpetrator and the victim marry each other or remain married after a rape.

The government did not take steps to establish a national plan to improve the rights of and support to rape victims. Nor did it move to investigate the reason for the disproportionately high rate of attrition in investigating and prosecuting reported rapes.

Refugees and asylum-seekers

The Refugee Appeals Board amended its previous practice of refusing protection to asylum-seekers who were at risk of persecution at home due to their sexual orientation on the basis that they should "hide" their sexual identity. Since 2013, lesbian, gay and bisexual asylum-seekers at risk of persecution on grounds of the overall homophobic practices of their country of origin have been granted refugee status.

Since September 2013, asylum-seekers from areas in Syria affected by the ongoing armed conflict have been granted refugee status without any further individual assessment. In October 2014, the government presented a bill to introduce a temporary protection permit for all Syrian asylum-seekers. The bill proposed that family reunification procedures not be initiated during the first 12 months of the asylum-seekers' stay in Denmark.

Vulnerable people – including victims of torture, unaccompanied minors and persons with mental illness – continued to be detained for immigration control purposes. The government maintained that the present practice of screening by a nurse of all asylum-seekers was sufficient to identify people who are unfit to be placed in detention.

In October, the Eastern High Court found that the "tolerated stay" of Elias Karkavandi, an Iranian citizen, had over time become "disproportionate". Elias Karkavandi's refugee status had been revoked in 2007 following the completion of a custodial sentence for drugs offences; he had spent seven years under the so-called "tolerated stay" regime, which barred him indefinitely from working, studying, marrying and living outside a designated reception centre.