Author: AFP in Copenhagen and Richard
Colwill
Publication: The Times
Date: February 18, 2004
URL: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1-1006054,00.html
Denmark has introduced new immigration
laws that will make it more difficult for Muslim clerics and other religious
leaders to enter the country.
The new rules are designed in part
to deter Islamic clerics from establishing Islamic communities in Denmark
and instead encourage Muslims to integrate into the broader society. The
rules however, would apply to any religious group.
Denmark's 170,000 Muslims account
for about 3 per cent of the population and are the second largest religious
group after the Lutheran Protestant Church, which is followed by four-fifths
of the country's population of 5.3 million.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish
Prime Minister, said yesterday: "Access to obtaining a Danish residence
permit for foreign missionaries has been too easy up until now.
"That is why we now put forward
new requirements for residing in the country, like the demand that imams
and others have an education and that they be financially self-sufficient."
The proposed changes, which parliament
is expected to quickly pass into law, are part of a deal reached in September
between the Liberal- Conservative government, the Danish People's Party
(DPP), its far-right ally, and the opposition Social Democrats.
Once passed into law, the immigration
rules would demand that any person coming to Denmark on a religious visa
would have to demonstrate that they were a "worthy" candidate to stay,
were educated, financially self-supporting and connected with an established
group already in the country.
The DPP, which first proposed the
new rules, confirmed they were aimed to curb the activities of Muslim clerics,
or imams.
Peter Skaarup, a spokesman for the
DPP, said: "In theory, these rules concern all clerics from all religions.
But in practice, they target the imams."
The Government also said yesterday
that it intended to strengthen the measures that can be taken against people
who help to hide rejected asylum seekers in order to prevent them being
expelled from the country.
Mr Rasmussen said: "The fines inflicted
on those who break the law by hiding refugees have been insufficient. We
therefore propose more severe sanctions against the offenders."
The proposed changes to the immigration
laws could also affect refugees who have been given asylum in Denmark,
because they would risk losing their residence permits if they decide to
return to their home countries for a holiday or to visit relatives.
The Government has also proposed
a ten-year "quarantine period" for refugees convicted of domestic violence
against a former wife or girlfriend, before they can bring their current
spouse to Denmark as part of the country's family reunification programme.
