Minister for Refugees, Immigrants and Integration (Denmark)
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Minister for Refugees, Immigrants and Integration of Denmark (Danish: Minister for flygtninge, indvandrere og integration) is a Danish ministerial office. The office was created by Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen on 27 November 2001 when he formed the Cabinet of Anders Fogh Rasmussen I after winning the 2001 Danish parliamentary election, where refugees, immigration, and integration of people from non-western countries had been important issues in the election campaign.
One of stated goals of the Anders Fogh cabinet, and especially the supporting Danish People's Party which secured the governments majority, was to stem the flow of refugees to Denmark, and new tougher rules did drastically reduce the number of refugees being granted asylum. Another initiative was the 24 year rule, which stated that husbands/wives must be 25 or older before they could immigrate to Denmark through family reunification (there had been many cases of arranged marriages of young people being used to get around immigration restrictions).
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[edit] Integration issues
Crime among non-western immigrants is a big issue; according to Danmarks Statistik, male immigrants and male sons of immigrants and 2.41 times more likely to have committed serious crimes than the general population; when this number is adjusted for age and social group (many immigrants are young and have poor socioeconomic standing), the number falls to 1.24. Some immigrants have been forming ruthless gangs and are competing with outlaw biker gangs like Hells Angels and Bandidos in the criminal markets like hash.
Unemployment is much higher among non-western immigrants than among the population as a whole; 2001 statistics from the Ministry of Welfare says only 52% is employed, versus 79% in the general population. Especially recent immigrants like Somalis, who came to Denmark in the 1990s, have high unemployment rates, with only 13% employed. The extensive Danish social security system makes the high unemployment rates very expensive for the Danish state, and has been a contributing factor in the public debate.
Groups often mentioned as containing many badly integrated individuals include Turks and Somalis. One instance often highlighted as a case of bad integration is the vocal subgroups of immigrants like Hizb-ut-Tahrir who feel little attachment to Denmark, but express fundamentalist Islamic views; some young immigrants also attend Koran schools seen as fundamentalistic.
[edit] List of Ministers of Refugees, Immigration and Integration
- Bertel Haarder (27 November 2001-18 February 2005)
- Rikke Hvilshøj (18 February 2005-23 November 2007)
- Birthe Rønn Hornbech (23 November 2007-present)
[edit] External links
- Ministeriet for Flygtninge, indvandrere og Integration - Official homepage
- History of the Ministry. From its official homepage
[edit] References
- Tørre tal om indvandrere og kriminalitet - from Danmarks Statistik.
- Årbog om udlændinge i Danmark 2001 - From the Ministry of the Interior.
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