Trampoline House and CAMP (Center for Art on Migration Politics) invite the public to debate this question together with Eva Smith (Dr. Jur.), Anne Lise Marstrand-Jørgensen (writer and Venligboer), Louise Holck (Vice Director, Danish Institute for Human Rights), Michala Clante Bendixen (Chairwoman, Refugees Welcome), and asylum seekers from the new asylum institutions.
The reason for the debate meeting is Denmark's new tent camps, deportation centers, and closed prisons for detained asylum seekers. The tent camps have been erected to accommodate newly arrived asylum seekers, even though several well-functioning asylum centers are vacant and being shut down. The deporation centers accommodate rejected asylum seekers, who do not cooperate on their repatriation, without pocket money and activities. In the closed prisons, undocumented migrants and asylum seekers are detained without a trial.
According to the Danish government, the new institutions are intended to intimidate rejected asylum seekers to leave Denmark voluntarily and to reduce the number of new asylum seekers arriving in Denmark. The strategy has been presented as a necessary and lawful political tool. But where is the dividing line between measures of intimidation and human rights violation? Are Denmark's new asylum institutions in violation of international conventions?
Trampoline House and CAMP will discuss this together with asylum seekers, refugee rights activists, legal experts, and the public during the debate meeting on Sunday, May 29, from 1–4 pm in Trampoline House.
The meeting will present testimonies from residents and inmates in the new asylum institutions and commentaries from refugee rights activists and legal experts, with the aim of determining if charges against the Danish state can be brought before the European Court of Human Rights.
PROGRAM:
Part 1: Testimonies & Reportages from Denmark's new asylum institutions
13-13:10: Welcome / by Tone Olaf Nielsen and Frederikke Hansen (Trampoline House and CAMP)
13:10-13: 20: Testimony from Næstved tent camp / La Folie Crew (dance group from DR Congo, residents in Næstved tent camp)
13:20-13:30: Comment / by Anne Lise Marstrand-Jørgensen (Venligboer, writer of a report on Haderslev tent camp)
13:30-13:40: Testimony from Deportation Center Sjælsmark / by Steve (co-founder of the movement Castaway Souls of Sjælsmark, resident of Deportation Center Sjælsmark)
13:40-13:50: Comment by Laura Henriksen Møller (volunteer in asylum center Kongelunden, author of a report on Deportation Center Kærshovedgård)
13:50-14: Testimony from Vridsløselille State Prison / by Zohra (intern in Trampoline House Women’s Club, the wife of an inmate in Vridsløselille)
14-14:10: Comment by / Michala Clante Bendixen (Chairwoman of Refugees Welcome, author of many reports on the new deportation and detention centers on refugees.dk)
Coffee break 14:10-14:25
Part 2: Conversation – Are human rights being violated in Denmark's new asylum institutions. Is it possible to bring charges against the Danish state before the European Court of Human Rights?
14:25-14:35: Comment by Louise Holck (Vice Director, The Danish Institute for Human Rights)
14:35-14:45: Comment by Eva Smith (Dr. Jur., and professor)
14:45-16: Open discussion between speakers and audience
The debate meeting is held in English. Admission is free and all are welcome!
More info on the new institutions at http://refugees.dk/media/1369/facts-on-prisons-and-det-centers.pdf