Denmark accused of racism after anti-ghetto law adapted for Ukrainians

Denmark is dealing with recent claims of racism after MPs modified the nation’s controversial anti-ghetto law to permit Ukrainian refugees to maneuver into social housing emptied of “non-westerners”.

For three years, the federal government has sought to limit immigrants from shifting into what are described as deprived neighbourhoods in an try and keep away from so-called “parallel societies”.

Access to social housing, some of which has been earmarked for demolition, has been shut off to “non-westerners”, outlined as being individuals from outdoors the EU, eight related European international locations, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

People born in Denmark however who’ve a single “non-western” father or mother have additionally been included within the class of individuals topic to the restrictions.

However, after the Danish authorities’s choice to absorb 100,000 refugees fleeing the warfare in Ukraine, a majority of the Danish parliament voted on Thursday to amend the law to exempt Ukrainians from such restrictions. Plans to demolish social housing within the focused areas have additionally been placed on maintain to unlock lodging for Ukrainians.

Susheela Math, a litigation officer on the Justice Initiative, a marketing campaign group in opposition to compelled evictions within the so-called ghettos, mentioned the law change proved the parallel society law was racially discriminatory.

She mentioned: “The laws underlying the evictions of tenants living in ‘vulnerable housing areas’ and the state’s volte-face on measures such as demolitions and housing allocations, show that the ‘ghetto package’ was clearly meant to target non-white individuals.

“These discriminatory measures do not serve any public good and clearly exacerbate the shortage of affordable housing in Denmark. Many of the racialised residents being evicted are Danish and identify strongly with their Danish identity, having been born in or lived in these so-called ghetto areas for years.

“These neighbourhoods are their homes. Some of these individuals were refugees themselves and have fled conflict and persecution – no differently than Ukrainians now fleeing war. The discriminatory treatment that they have been subjected to stands in stark contrast to the rightfully compassionate welcome that Ukrainian refugees have received in Denmark.”

The anti-ghetto law was first proposed in March 2018 by the Liberal minority authorities, which launched the political plan “One Denmark without parallel societies – no ghettos by 2030” and enacted the idea of “non-western” in Danish law.

The Social Democratic prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has continued the coverage since coming to energy in June 2019 though the phrase ghetto has been faraway from the newest laws.

The neighbourhoods focused have greater than 1,000 residents and greater than half of residents are of “non-western” origin. They should additionally meet two of 4 standards: greater than 40% of residents are unemployed; greater than 60% of 39- to 50-year-olds don’t have any higher secondary schooling; crime charges are 3 times greater than the nationwide common; and residents have a gross revenue 55% decrease than the regional common.

Twelve neighbourhoods at present fall into that class. In these areas, misdemeanours additionally carry double the authorized penalties in place elsewhere and daycare is necessary for all youngsters over the age of one, or household allowances are withdrawn.

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Majken Felle, a resident of Mjølnerparken, a neighbourhood designated as a “ghetto” space, mentioned she was satisfied the parallel societies coverage was pushed by bigotry.

She mentioned: “Recently, a representative from Bo-Vita, the organization responsible for the redevelopment of Mjølnerparken, said in an interview that in neighbourhoods like mine, there is an Arab mentality and residents do not care about western culture, making these areas feel potentially unsafe to Ukrainian refugees.

“He is saying out loud what is the unspoken intention behind the permanent removal of homes in ‘ghetto’ areas: that these policies and demolition projects are driven by racial prejudice.”

According to Statistics Denmark, 11% of Denmark’s 5.8 million inhabitants are of overseas origin, of whom 58% are from a rustic thought of “non-western”.

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