Ukrainian Refugees May be Saved from Denmark’s ‘Jewellery Law’, No Confiscation of Assets as ‘Neighbours First’
Denmark has tweaked its controversial “jewellery law” or the “migrant confiscation law”, which enables the Danish government to take control of cash and valuables from asylum seekers, introducing a clause of exception for Ukrainians leaving their war-torn country.
Back in 2016, the Danish Parliament passed a legislation allowing asylum-seekers’ assets above 10,000 kroner to be confiscated for the state. The law had sparked outrage, however, the Danish government defended its law by arguing that it was only fair to make refugees contribute.
As Ukraine continues to face the Russian offensive, the immigration spokesman for Denmark’s Social Democratic government, Rasmus Stoklund, announced that the law will not be applied to Ukrainians who come to the Nordic country to flee war in their country, The Local DK reported.
In an interview with the newspaper ‘Ekstra Bladet’, Stoklund said that the government and parliament are considering bringing in changes for Ukrainian refugees “so they are not initially affected by asylum laws”.
Throwing more light to its new position of refugees, Stoklund said that the exception for Ukrainian refugees is being considered as Denmark was a regional neighbour to Ukraine. The country’s largest opposition party, too, hasn’t posed objections to the new move to exempt Ukrainians from the “jewellery” law.
“The jewellery law is made for if you leave the nearby region where you are safe, and travel through (other) safe countries. But that is not the case for Ukrainians. We are in their nearby region,” Stoklund told Ekstra Bladet.
Denmark mainly received refugees from Syria when the controversial “jewellery law” was enacted by the Danish government.
The number of Ukrainian refugees was expected to reach 1.5 million on Sunday as Russia continued its attack 11 days after invading Ukraine and Kyiv pressed for further Western action, including more sanctions and weapons.
Moscow and Kyiv traded blame over a failed ceasefire plan that would have let civilians flee Mariupol and Volnovakha, two southern cities besieged by Russian forces. Another round of talks was tentatively planned for Monday as Ukrainians who could escape spilled into neighboring Poland, Romania, Slovakia and elsewhere.
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