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Danish government publishes anti-refugee adverts in Lebanese newspapers Refugee crisis: Denmark discourages asylum seekers with newspaper adverts in Lebanon
(about 2 hours later)
As Western Europe makes plans to welcome hundreds of thousands of refugees, Denmark has started a campaign to restrict them. The Danish government has placed an advertisement in a number of newspapers in Lebanon. The ads carry an unspoken yet unmistakable message: Don't come to Denmark.
Watch the reactions of local Lebanese people below. They list a number of factors that would make Denmark an undesirable destination for refugees, including recent legislation that would reduce social benefits to arriving asylum seekers by 50 percent.
The Danish Immigration service has published an advert in four Lebanese newspapers that details how new refugees’ social benefits will be reduced by up to 50%. Pointedly, it notes that anyone hoping to gain permanent residence in Denmark would have to learn Danish.
It also lays out the Ministry’s other regulations that may deter refugees, such as how those granted protection ‘will not have the right to bring family members to Denmark during the first year’ and that rejected asylum seekers ‘ must be returned quickly’. Arabic and English versions of the advertisement, placed by Denmark's Ministry of Immigration, Integration and Housing, ran in four newspapers on Monday.
Hundreds of refugees have crossed into Denmark from Germany over the last few days, reportedly in an attempt to reach Sweden, where the government is much more accommodating. Denmark trying to scare off would-be migrants with these ads in #Lebanon media: pic.twitter.com/8uQasJJBF6
Some in Lebanon are surprised by Denmark’s decision, as one man described the adverts: “I find it funny. Instead of putting out an advertisement that we are helping refugees in such a crisis like this, they are cutting down the help for refugees.” Denmark has taken a stricter stance on immigration since the center-right Liberal Party formed a minority government in June.
Great Britain, France and Germany all announced quotas for welcoming refugees to aid the recent crisis before Denmark published the adverts. While Germany and Sweden have embraced larger numbers of refugees over the past year, Denmark has cut back, imposing laws designed to discourage migrants from traveling to the country, including a severe cut to the benefits offered to refugees.
The changes to Danish policy were announced in July and Integration Minister Inger Støjberg believes that anyone considering reaching Denmark should be aware of the facts. In July, Integration Minister Inger Stojberg had promised to run advertisements in foreign newspapers about the changes in Danish benefits to refugees.
She took to Facebook to say: “The aim is to inform objectively and soberly about [Danish rules], which the government is in the process of tightening.” “In light of the huge influx to Europe these days, there is good reason for us to tighten rules and get that effectively communicated." “The advertisements must contain sobering information about the halving of benefits and other constraints we are going to adopt,” Stojberg told the Danish broadcaster DR. “This kind of information spreads.”
A Facebook campaign, which began in response to the advertisements’ planning, published an advert of their own last week proclaiming: ‘We Welcome you to Denmark’. Denmark, like Britain, has an exemption from European Union-wide asylum regulations that aim to redistribute refugees. However, the Danish People's Party (DPP) has called for further measures, including potentially leaving Europe's border-control-free Schengen zone.
The advert declares that “Minister of Integration, Inger Støjberg, is planning an international newspaper campaign to advertise the imminent tightening of conditions for refugees in order to stem the influx of people seeking asylum in Denmark. The aim is to deter refugees from coming to Denmark in the first place. But we’re not all like minister Støjberg and the rest of the Danish government." The DPP is a powerful player in Danish politics at the moment: While not a part of government, it became the second-largest party in Denmark after the election and provides key support to the Liberal Party.
The party has a clear anti-immigration agenda. Last month, one DPP politician argued that the government should step in to regulate the Danish language, warning that the “pizza Danish” spoken by immigrants in fast-food restaurants was spreading.
On Monday, some in Denmark criticized the advertisements, including some members of the Liberal Party. “I am very, very disappointed,” Michael Gatten, a member of Copenhagen's municipal council, told Jyllands-Posten. “It is a repulsive way of acting.” Many of the refugees entering Denmark are on their way to neighbouring Sweden, which has taken in far more asylum seekers
“This must be the worst timing for an ad in the history of the world,” Uffe Elbaek, the leader of the left-leaning Alternative Party, wrote on Twitter.
In a post published on Facebook, Stojberg explained the motivation behind the advertisements. “We simply cannot keep up with the current influx,” the minister wrote, adding that it was important not only to tighten laws but also to let potential migrants know.
The post has been liked more than 6,000 times as of late Monday morning.
Denmark received almost 15,000 asylum-seekers last year, a significant increase over previous years. There are more than 1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, meaning that at least one out of every four people living in the country fled the war in Syria.
Copyright: Washington Post