Justice Ministry criticised for deporting ill people

At least two cases involving sick people being deported to countries where their medication is not accessible has aid organisations up in arms

The Justice Ministry has come under fire after it was revealed that it has been expelling ill people on flimsy grounds.

At least two cases have surfaced within the last week in which the ministry has sent people home to countries where they cannot obtain the medicine they need.

Information newspaper revealed today that a Ugandan woman, Sara, has been denied an extension to her humanitarian stay in Denmark, despite the Justice Ministry writing in its denial letter that the HIV medicine she needs to survive is not accessible via the public health system in Uganda. Instead, the ministry urged Sara to get the medicine through “private actors”.

Couldn't get his meds in Kosovo
Sara’s case follows in the wake of revelations on DR News's programme '21 Søndag' that a 15-year-old boy, Remzi Baftijari, was recently deported back to Kosovo after the Justice Ministry argued that the anti-psychotic medicine that Baftijari needed was accessible there. '21 Søndag' found however that the medicine was only obtainable in Kosovo through illegal channels.

Eva Singer, the head of the asylum aid organisation Dansk Flygtningehjælp, finds it problematic that the government does not properly look into the accessibility of medicine before sending ill people out of the country.

“They only consider the theoretical possibility of access to treatment in the home country, but they don’t look into whether the individual is realistically able to gain access,” Singer told Information.

Enhedslisten demands explanation 
Far-left party Enhedslisten (EL) has demanded an explanation from the Justice Ministry about how it investigates whether sick people who are expelled from Denmark can acquire the medicine they need.

”Can we even trust the evaluations of the Justice Ministry?” Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen, the head of EL, asked DR Nyheder. “It raises some dangerous questions about the entire process. What about all of the other deportations and rejections that are made based on information that the Justice Ministry claims that it has concerning the accessibility of medicine?”

The outcry has prompted the justice minister, Morten Bødskov (Socialdemokraterne), to promise to look into the issue immediately.

“This is news to me [that Baftijari cannot get his needed medication in Kosovo]," Bødskov told DR Nyheder. "The information means that I will immediately ask the Foreign Ministry to look into whether treatment is actually available in Kosovo. We obviously cannot ignore that kind of information.”

Law changed in 2010
Before 2010, ill asylum seekers were only sent out of the country if they were able to pay for the medicine back home and could get the same medicine as in Denmark.

But the previous government, led by Venstre, Dansk Folkeparti and Konservative, changed the law so that people can be sent back as long as the medicine and treatment are accessible in the home country. Whether they can pay for it is no longer a concern.

TOP STORIES

  • Chinese wind turbine companies sign pact to end race-to-the-bottom price war

    Chinese wind turbine companies sign pact to end race-to-the-bottom price war

    China’s 12 leading wind turbine makers have signed a pact to end a domestic price war that has seen turbines sold at below cost price in a race to corner the market and which has compromised quality and earnings in the sector.

  • Watch Novo Nordisk’s billion-kroner musical TV ad for Wegovy

    Watch Novo Nordisk’s billion-kroner musical TV ad for Wegovy

    Novo Nordisk’s TV commercial for the slimming drug Wegovy has been shown roughly 32,000 times and reached 8.8 billion US viewers since June.

  • Retention is the new attraction

    Retention is the new attraction

    Many people every year choose to move to Denmark and Denmark in turn spends a lot of money to attract and retain this international talent. Are they staying though? If they leave, do they go home or elsewhere? Looking at raw figures, we can see that Denmark is gradually becoming more international but not everyone is staying. 

  • Defence Minister: Great international interest in Danish military technology

    Defence Minister: Great international interest in Danish military technology

    Denmark’s Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen attended the Association of the Unites States Army’s annual expo in Washington DC from 14 to 16 October, together with some 20 Danish leading defence companies, where he says Danish drone technology attracted significant attention.

  • Doctors request opioids in smaller packs as over-prescription wakes abuse concerns

    Doctors request opioids in smaller packs as over-prescription wakes abuse concerns

    Doctors, pharmacies and politicians have voiced concern that the pharmaceutical industry’s inability to supply opioid prescriptions in smaller packets, and the resulting over-prescription of addictive morphine pills, could spur levels of opioid abuse in Denmark.

  • Housing in Copenhagen – it runs in the family

    Housing in Copenhagen – it runs in the family

    Residents of cooperative housing associations in Copenhagen and in Frederiksberg distribute vacant housing to their own family members to a large extent. More than one in six residents have either parents, siblings, adult children or other close family living in the same cooperative housing association.

Connect club

Connect Club is your gateway to a vibrant programme of events and an international community in Denmark.

Sign up here

Career

  • Come and join us at Citizens Days!

    Come and join us at Citizens Days!

    On Friday 27 and Saturday 28 of September, The Copenhagen Post will be at International Citizen Days in Øksnehallen on Vesterbro, Copenhagen. Admission is free and thousands of internationals are expected to attend

  • Diversifying the Nordics: How a Nigerian economist became a beacon for inclusivity in Scandinavia

    Diversifying the Nordics: How a Nigerian economist became a beacon for inclusivity in Scandinavia

    Chisom Udeze, the founder of Diversify – a global organization that works at the intersection of inclusion, democracy, freedom, climate sustainability, justice, and belonging – shares how struggling to find a community in Norway motivated her to build a Nordic-wide professional network. We also hear from Dr. Poornima Luthra, Associate Professor at CBS, about how to address bias in the workplace.

  • Lolland Municipality launches support package for accompanying spouses

    Lolland Municipality launches support package for accompanying spouses

    Lolland Municipality, home to Denmark’s largest infrastructure project – the Fehmarnbelt tunnel connection to Germany – has launched a new jobseeker support package for the accompanying partners of international employees in the area. The job-to-partner package offers free tailored sessions on finding a job and starting a personal business.

Want to advertise your job with CPH Post?

Contact us

Jobs