Information note on the follow-up visit to Denmark

 

5-7 December 2006

 

Delegation: Mr. Markus Jaeger, Deputy Director to the Commissioner’s Office

and Ms. Irene Kitsou-Milonas, Legal adviser to the Commissioner

 

 

 

As part of its activities, the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights continues to carry out follow-up visits with the aim of having a continuous and constructive dialogue with national authorities about human rights issues.

 

In agreement with the Danish authorities, a delegation of this Office will visit Denmark from 5 to 7 December 2006 to take stock of the progress made in the implementation of the recommendations set out in the report of the Commissioner for Human Rights subsequent to his visit to Denmark on 13-16 April 2004 (attached for ease of reference).

 

The visit will be preceded by talks with non-governmental actors. These meetings will be held in private and be organised by the Commissioner’s Office directly.

 

Then the delegation wishes to meet with national authorities working in the areas covered by the Commissioner’s report and to visit sites deemed relevant for the purpose of the visit. The report will serve as the thematic basis for the discussions with Danish authorities during the follow-up visit.

 

As this follow-up visit is carried out by members of the Office of the Commissioner and not by the Commissioner himself, meetings are mainly sought at a senior civil servant and expert level. The following list of authorities and institutions is only indicative, and suggestions from the Danish authorities are very welcome.

 

The Commissioner would be obliged if the Danish authorities could put interpretation and transportation facilities between official venues at the disposal of his delegation.

 

For further information, please contact:

 

Markus Jaeger

Deputy to the Director

Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights

Council of Europe

Phone: +33-3 88 41 23 34

Email: [email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PROPOSALS OF AUTHORITIES TO BE MET AND PLACES TO BE VISITED

 

 

Ministries:

 

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Ministry of Justice (including members of the Prison and Probation Service)

Ministry for Refugees, Immigration and Integration Affairs

Ministry of Social Affairs and Gender Equality

Ministry of the Interior and Health

Ministry for Family and Consumer Affairs

Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs and of Education

 

Political representatives:

 

Members of the Danish Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly

Members of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Danish Parliament

Members of the Representation of the Faeroe Islands in Denmark

Members of the Greenland Home Rule Government Representation in Denmark

 

Others:

 

Parliamentary Ombudsman

Ombudsman of the Parliament of Greenland

Ombudsman of the Parliament of the Faeroe Islands

Danish Institute for Human Rights (including the Complaints Committee for Ethnic Equal Treatment)

Members of the Council of Ethnic Minorities

Police Complaints Board

National Council for Children

Danish Press Council

Refugee Board

 

 

Possible places to be visited by the delegation:

 

Sandholm and Avnstrup centres for asylum-seekers (including Sandholm foreigners’ detention centre)

Prison: the Treatment Institution at Herstedvester

A shelter for women and children victims of domestic violence (to be chosen by Danish authorities)

School: Vesterbro School

Psychiatric establishment: Glostrup Hospital Psychiatric and Forensic Psychiatric Departments