OSCE PA humanitarian Chair calls on Danish MPs to reject law enabling seizure of refugees’ valuables

COPENHAGEN, 22 January 2016 – The Chairperson of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions Committee, Isabel Santos (MP, Portugal), today expressed concern about legislation proposed by the Danish government that would allow the authorities to seize the valuables of asylum-seekers to help cover the cost of their stay in the country. She called on Denmark's parliamentarians to reject the proposed amendments.

“Refugees fleeing war and chaos and seeking asylum in Europe are the continent’s most desperate population. Most have lost everything -- and yet this legislation appears to say that the few fortunate enough to have survived the trip to Denmark with their few remaining possessions haven’t lost enough. This is certainly not the Denmark that I know. I call on the country’s parliamentarians to search their conscience and reject the proposed amendments on moral and humanitarian grounds,” Chairperson Santos said.

Measures in bill L87 would amend Denmark’s Aliens Act to allow the authorities to search the clothing and luggage of asylum-seekers arriving in the country and to requisition cash or belongings exceeding 10,000 kroner (approximately 1,350 euros) in value in order to help finance their stay. The bill was amended from its original form to specify that items considered to be of special sentimental value will not be seized. A vote on the legislation is scheduled for 26 January.

“Danish lawmakers should also consider the precedent they are setting with their policies in this bill for other European countries that are considering how they should handle the refugee situation,” the Chairperson added.

Within the Assembly’s 2015 Helsinki Declaration, OSCE parliamentarians applauded “the significant efforts of States neighbouring crisis situations to care for refugees” and called upon other OSCE States “to increase their efforts to care for people fleeing their homes out of fear of persecution and personal safety.”

Santos has been actively engaged in seeking policy solutions to the current humanitarian crisis of migrants and refugees in the European area. Since the beginning of 2015 she has visited refugee reception centers on Turkey’s border with Syria and in southern Italy and has held numerous meetings with experts and officials focused on humanitarian treatment of migrants. 

The Chairperson is expected to lead a delegation of parliamentarians to the Czech Republic and Serbia in the coming weeks to consider the treatment of migrants and refugees in those countries.

Parliamentarians from across the OSCE area are expected to debate the crisis of migrants and refugees during the Assembly’s Winter Meeting in Vienna, held on 25-26 February.