UUI, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 6: Svar på høring fra Europarådet vedrørende "Missing refugee and migrant children in Europe", fra udlændinge- og integrationsministeriet

Udlændinge- og Integrationsudvalget 2018-19 (2. samling)
UUI Alm.del Bilag 6
Offentligt

Folketingets Bibliotek og Oplysning

[email protected]

Missing refugee and migrant children in Europe

Below please find The Danish Ministry of Integration and Immigration

answers

to questions from the Council of Europe regarding missing refugee and migrant

children in Europe.

Please note, that the term refugee and migrant children has been considered to

be children, who currently have an application of asylum under consideration,

who have waivered their application for asylum or whose asylum application has

been rejected, and who are unaccompanied. It is not possible to withdraw statis-

tical information regarding children, who are accompanied by a parent or another

adult.

1. How many refugee and migrant children are missing in your country?

The Danish National Police has drawn up data based on the police case manage-

ment system (POLSAS) as of 1 May 2019 in table 1 as shown below.

The table includes the accumulated number of unaccompanied children, who,

of 1 May 2019

were registered as missing, distributed by the following categories;

Rejected asylum seekers, asylum seekers, Dublin return, persons who have waiv-

ered their application for asylum, illegal stay, and persons who have had their

application for asylum rejected based upon section 29 b of the Danish Aliens Act

on grounds of already having been granted asylum elsewhere.

Table 1:

Reject-

asylum

seekers

Unaccompanied

children

Asylum

seekers

Dublin

Return

Waivered

application

for asylum

Illegal stay

Section 29

b of the

Danish

Aliens Act

3. july 2019

Udlændinge- og

Integrationsministeriet

Udsendelse

Slotsholmsgade 10

1216 København K

Tel.

Mail

Web

CVR-nr.

6198 4000

[email protected]

www.uim.dk

36977191

Sagsbehandler

Tanja Lücking

Tel.

Mail

Sags nr.

Akt-id

+45 61 98 34 10

[email protected]

2019 - 6554

758184

Total

450

112

583

The data is subject to some uncertainty, as POLSAS is a case management system

rather than a statistical system. In this regard, it is noted that the numbers are

dynamic and therefore can be subject to alterations, primarily due to post-

regulations.

Side

1/4

UUI, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 6: Svar på høring fra Europarådet vedrørende "Missing refugee and migrant children in Europe", fra udlændinge- og integrationsministeriet

When a child is accompanied by an adult (a parent or another adult), a missing

perso s report

will be issued only with regard to the adult, in cases where the

adult and the child go missing together. This means that a child accompanied by

an adult will not directly be registered as missing. Thus, there are no statistics

regarding children accompanied by an adult, who go missing.

If a foreigner registered as missing is not met by the police within 3 years, the

registration is withdrawn, as the foreigner is regarded as having left the country in

compliance with his or her duty to do so.

However, in such instances the police will manually go through the case to analyse

whether the missing person

report should be cancelled, or if certain special cir-

cumstances dictate that the missing person

report shall be maintained for a

duration lasting longer than 3 years. For example, it is relevant to maintain the

missing person

report if the missing foreigner is residing in Denmark on so-called

tolerated stay

2. If a refugee or migrant child disappears, who (e.g. authority, accommodation

centre, school, employer, guardian, host family) is legally obliged to notify such

disappearance to the police?

The Danish Immigration Service has stated that if an unaccompanied minor resid-

ing in an accommodation centre disappears, the centre is obliged to notify the

police. If the minor is under 15 years of age, police notification must be made

within 12 hours. If the minor is 15-17 years old, police notification must be made

within 24 hours.

3. How are refugee and migrant children registered and identified in your coun-

try?

According to the Danish National Police the registration and identification proce-

dure is at large the same for foreigners without legal stay and asylum seekers.

However, as described below, there are some differences depending on whether

the registration and identification concerns an asylum seeker or a foreigner with-

out legal stay.

The differences include, whether or not the police stores photos and fingerprints

the police s syste s

and records biometrical data on behalf of the Danish Im-

migration Service.

During

the i itial co tact with the police, the foreig er s atio ality, age, a d la -

guage is identified. If the foreigner is an asylum seeker this will be registered

alongside with any information regarding statelessness. The identification is based

on information from the applicant, i.e. documents regarding the applicant, cf.

Aliens on tolerated stay are aliens who due to criminality, national security concerns or other rele-

vant reasons are excluded from residence permit as refugees, but who cannot be returned to their

country of origin due to the principle of non-refoulement (risk of ill-treatment etc.).

Side

2/4

UUI, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 6: Svar på høring fra Europarådet vedrørende "Missing refugee and migrant children in Europe", fra udlændinge- og integrationsministeriet

section 48 e of the Danish Aliens Act. Most often identification is carried out with

a translator being available via telephone.

If the foreigner informs the police of being an unaccompanied child, the Danish

Red Cross will offer the assistance of a counsellor, to assist the foreigner during

the process of registration and identification.

In connection hereto, the police records a photo of the applicant, and

–

if the

applicant is 14 years of age or older

–

fingerprints. The recording of photos and

fingerprints is carried out in accordance with sections 40 a, paragraph 1 and 2,

and 40 b, paragraph 1 and 2, of the Danish Aliens Act.

Fingerprints taken pursuant to subsection (1) or (2) may be registered in a special

data register kept by the National Commissioner of Police. The police and the

Danish Immigration Service may use the register in connection with the examina-

tion of immigration cases. The national Commissioner of Police is the authority

responsible for the register and its data.

The police forward the fingerprints to the Danish National Police, National Foren-

sic Centre (NKC), with the purpose of handling the fingerprint in the central EU-

RODAC-system, cf. section 58 i, paragraph 1, of the Danish Aliens Act.

When registering a foreigner, the police will

–

if necessary

–

conduct a search and

seizure of the perso s luggage

with the purpose of obtaining any documents or

other items that can contribute to determining the identity of the person or any

affiliation to other countries, cf. section 40, paragraph 10, of the Danish Aliens Act

with reference to chapter 72 (body searches), chapter 73 (search), and chapter 74

(solely regarding seizure) of the Danish Administration of Justice Act.

When conducting a body search and seizure with the purpose of obtaining any

documents/items to determining the identity of an unaccompanied child, the

unaccompanied child will be assisted by a counsellor from the Danish Red Cross

during

the process of co ductio of a search a d seizure of the perso s luggage.

Furthermore, foreigners, who are not deprived of liberty, can be submitted to

accommodation duty and reporting duty by the police. The accommodation duty

requires the alien to stay at a return centre, meaning that the alien has to be ac-

commodated at the centre. The reporting duty is a duty to report regularly to the

police, and the notification duty requires the alien to notify the Danish authori-

ties, if he/she stays outside the return centre between 11 pm and 6 am.

Additionally, the police will issue photo-id to the foreigner, and the person will be

checked in at the reception centre.

Additionally, the police records biometrical information (photo, fingerprint, and

signature) of all adult asylum seekers for future use by the Danish Immigration

Service, cf. the Danish Aliens Act section 40 a, paragraph 11 and 12, and section

40 b, paragraph 11 and 12. Biometrical information is not recorded for children

Side

3/4

UUI, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 6: Svar på høring fra Europarådet vedrørende "Missing refugee and migrant children in Europe", fra udlændinge- og integrationsministeriet

accompanying an adult. For unaccompanied children, biometrical information

(photo, fingerprints and signature) is recorded if the child is estimated to be at

least 6 years old. The police forward the biometrical information to the Danish

Immigration Service, who then uses the biometrical information in any later pro-

cedure regarding the issuing of residence cards.

Side

4/4