2009-07-24 The Copenhagen post: Massive jump in minor asylum applicants

[Don Pedro]

Massive jump in minor asylum applicants
Friday, 24 July 2009 10:30 KR News
E-mail Print

Teenage boys make up the majority of unaccompanied Afghan children claiming asylum in Denmark

The number of unaccompanied Afghan children seeking asylum in Denmark has more than quadrupled in the last two years.

In 2007, the Immigration Service recorded 39 Afghan children under the age of 18 applying for asylum.
By 2008 that figure had increased to 168 and within the first four months of this year alone, 97 Afghan minors had arrived in Denmark as refugees.

According to the Immigration Service, the majority of the minors are male teenagers between 15 and 18 years of age, who have often travelled for months via Iran, Turkey, Greece and Germany before claiming asylum when they are caught crossing the German-Danish border.

Neither the Immigration Service nor the police have been able to offer a reason for the sudden jump in young asylum numbers, but there are indications that Denmark is seen as a transit country for those on their way to Norway or Sweden.

Figures show that two thirds of the applicants leave the country within a few weeks of applying for asylum.

Comparatively, there have been 812 asylum applications from Afghan minors in Norway in the first six months this year, 233 more than the total number from 2008.

Jørgen Chemnitz, head of the Danish Red Cross asylum department, said that Norway is under serious pressure to house all the applicants.

'We are also hard pressed, but we can handle the situation with some sound and sensible solutions, even if there are more [applicants] on the way,' said Chemnitz.

To house the large number of minor applicants, the Immigration Service rented buildings from the Defence Ministry in the spring and established a temporary children's asylum reception centre in North Zealand.

http://www.cphpost.dk/news/national/88-national/46375-massive-jump-in-minor-asylum-applicants.


Tulee niita karva-ankkureita Tanskaan ja Norjaankin ihan kiitettavaa tahtia.

Mutta sitten niita katoaakin, ihan samalla tavalla kuin Suomessa:


http://www.cphpost.dk/news/politics/90-politics/46344-authorities-lose-track-of-iraqi-refugees.html

Authorities lose track of Iraqi refugees
Tuesday, 21 July 2009 15:36 RC News

Many Iraqi refugees waiting to be sent back to their home country have not reported to the authorities as required

Authorities do not know the whereabouts of 46 of 49 Iraqi men denied asylum and whom the Iraqi government has agreed to take back, reports Berlingske Tidende newspaper.

According to officials at the two asylum centres where the Iraqis are housed, the 46 men have not returned to their rooms for some time.
The refugees are required to report to asylum authorities twice a week, retrieve their mail every third day and collect a supplementary income check every two weeks. If they break this pattern, they are considered missing by the National Police, who then put out an arrest warrant for them.

Police say there is a chance some of the refugees are at Brorson's Church in the city's Nørrebro district, where around 60 Iraqis have sought refuge since May. The move to the church occurred after the Iraqi and Danish governments reached an agreement to send the refused asylum seekers back to their native country.

But police say they will not go inside the church to find the refugees without a direct order from Birthe Rønn Hornbech, the immigration minister.

Should any of the missing Iraqi men otherwise be found, they will be taken into custody and sent to Ellebæk detention facility in Birkerød, north of Copenhagen. They would then remain there until being deported.

But Christen Østergaard, from the National Police's immigrant department, said that it is extremely difficult to get plane tickets to Baghdad at the moment.

Up to now only six of the 250 Iraqis that have been denied asylum have been sent back to Iraq.
'There are a lot of logistical difficulties,' said Østergaard. 'But we're doing the best we can.'


Tutun kuuloistako? Katoavia sosiaaliturvan hakijoita, logistisia vaikeuksia palautuksessa, kirkko suojelee... tulvimalla siis tulee ja eroon ei paase.