U.N. rights chief concerned by Danish plan to put foreign criminals on island
GENEVA
- U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Wednesday she is concerned about Denmark’s plan to house some foreign criminals on a tiny island south of the capital.
The government on Friday proposed using Lindholm island for up to 100 criminals whose sentence of deportation cannot be carried out because they risk torture or execution in their home country.
The plan is the government’s latest bid to curb immigration. The immigration ministry even has a tracker counting the tightening of immigration legislation on its website.
Critics say the plan is dra conian but it is supported by the government’s anti-immigrant ally, the Danish People’s Party.
“I have serious concerns with this plan and we will monitor it and discuss it
... with the government,”
Bachelet told journalists in
Geneva.
“We’ve seen the negative impact of such policies of iso lation, and (they) should not replicate these policies. Because depriving them of their liberty, isolating them, and stigmatising them will only increase their vulnerability,” she added. Under the plan, the criminals could leave the island during the day but would have to report their whereabouts to authorities and return at night.
“They are unwanted in Denmark and they must feel that,” said Integration Minister Inger Stojberg in a Facebook post after the proposal was announced.