Denmark again contemplates outsourcing asylum procedures to third countries – Technologist

In January 2023, the Danish government announced that it was temporarily abandoning its plan to outsource asylum procedures to Rwanda. At the time, immigration minister Kaare Dybvad argued that his country wanted to move forward with its European partners, recognizing that a Danish solution would not solve the problem facing the European Union. “We also realized that after criticizing us, more and more countries were interested in what we had to offer,” the Ministry said.

On Monday, May 6, Copenhagen hosted an international conference on immigration. Over 250 political leaders and representatives of international organizations, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, and Europol, discussed various types of “durable solutions,” in the form of “partnerships” with third countries, designed to stem the flow of arrivals and speed up returns.

The Italian interior minister, Matteo Piantedosi, his Austrian and Czech counterparts, Gerhard Karner and Vit Rakusan, as well as the Dutch immigration minister, Eric van der Burg, made the trip. Belgium, Germany and Sweden were represented by their secretaries of state for immigration.

‘Solid foundation’

Danish Social Democrat Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who came to welcome the delegates, noted that “the current immigration and asylum system has de facto collapsed,” recalling that the number of arrivals in Europe “was comparable to 2015.” “The European New Pact on Migration and Asylum is a solid foundation on which we can build. But we also need broader and more equal partnerships, and a commitment to a long-term sustainable solution,” she said while opening the conference.

One of the issues discussed during the day was the law passed by the British Parliament on April 23, which enables the UK to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda. The highly controversial model was imagined by Denmark, which was the first country to legislate, as soon as 2021 before signing a bilateral cooperation agreement with Kigali in September 2022. It then suspended its plans to relocate the care of asylum seekers and refugees there.

Copenhagen, however, has not given up, according to Dybvad, who believes that “joint European cooperation with one or more third countries outside Europe should reduce the incentive to come here.” According to the Danish government, such a system would be “more humane and fairer,” as it would reduce the power of traffickers and allow asylum to be granted to those “who really need it.”

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