Danish asylum centres closing

The Danish immigration service has announced that it will soon be closing three of its asylum centres in Rødby, Skive and Frederikshavn.

The reason given is that asylum applications are being processed quickly and therefore there is less need for the centres. Many of those who apply for asylum in Denmark are Syrians, their applications are processed rapidly and therefore they are only kept in the centres for a short stay.

However numbers of asylum seekers in Denmark have shown a drop from 6,200 in 2012 to 5,300 in 2013. The country is known to have a strict repatriation policy and in 2013 nearly 3,000 people were sent home, an increase of nearly 900 over the previous year.

According to a report from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Denmark takes proportionally far fewer refugees than neighbouring Sweden. In 2011 Denmark took 1,935 refugees; Sweden, which has less than double Denmark’s population, accepted 19,140 asylum seekers.