Denmark was once a champion of the Refugee Convention, but it has since joined the rank of European Union nations that are restricting entry to refugees and would-be asylum seekers who show up at their borders. On Tuesday, Danish lawmakers overwhelmingly voted through a series of controversial measures to confiscate valuables from asylum seekers to help cover the cost of their stay. Under the so-called jewelry bill, authorities can seize assets worth upwards of $1,453 that have little sentimental value to the owners. CNN reported that wedding rings, engagement rings, family portraits, decorations and medals are exempted, but watches, mobile phones, and computers can be confiscated. The bill would also raise the waiting period for refugees to apply for their family members to join them from one year to three years, and shorten temporary residential permits to two years. The country’s ruling Liberal Party justified the confiscation by saying that it was up to refugees to ensure that they could pay for their stay and be able to contribute to society.
It can be difficult for those of us here in America to understand the unimaginable suffering occurring in Europe and the Middle East. Safe and secure as we are, there’s no reason to worry about war or violent political strife. We have no frame of reference for understanding what the refugee crisis in Europe entails. We have a roof over our head, we know where our next Big Mac is coming from, and we go through our daily life in relative peace and security. We also don’t have thousands of desperate refugees crashing our borders, hoping to find a safe place for themselves and their families. We aren’t seeing our social welfare system straining and cracking under the pressure of too many people and too few resources. We aren’t dealing with the compassion fatigue inevitably caused by a crisis that manifests itself day after day with no end in sight.
That sai, I recognize the need to be careful when throwing stones…but the increasingly inhuman and miserly ways European governments are treating refugees is appalling. While I understand the growing frustration and compassion fatigue extant among Europeans and their governments, simple compassion and human decency would seem to dictate that helping those is need is merely the right thing to do.
Compassion fatigue is now a thing in Europe, and it poses a significant threat to the international community’s capacity for assisting those who arrive on their shores in desperate need. How long can governments and their people be expected to show compassion and restraint in the face of seemingly overwhelming numbers of refugees clamoring for help? That the numbers never seem to decrease speaks to a problem in desperate need of a humanitarian AND political solution. What Denmark and other European governments are doing is as inhuman as it is spectacularly unhelpful.
The move mirrors what the country already does with Danish welfare beneficiaries who have to sell assets worth more than $1,453 before they can receive state benefits.
Still, the series of measures drew sharp criticism from some lawmakers as well as human rights organizations. Pernille Skipper, an MP and legal affairs spokesperson for Enhedslisten, a left-wing Danish party, told the Irish Times, “Morally it is a horrible way to treat people fleeing mass crimes, war, rapes. They are fleeing from war and how do we treat them? We take their jewellery.”
The UN’s refugee agency also warned that the bill could incite “fear, xenophobia and similar restrictions that would reduce - rather than expand - the asylum space globally and put refugees in need at life-threatening risks.”
Denmarks’ bill is distressingly reminiscent of Nazi confiscation of Jewish property in the run up to and during WWII. I get the desire for refugees being able to pay their way, but what happens when they’s simply too destitute to be able to do that? If they could pay their way, would they be washing ashore in rickety boats with only their clothes on their backs? Should Danish- and by extension the rest of Europe- compassion come with a price tag? When refugees are unable to pay that price, does that then provide justification for turning them away?
No one wants to see the waves of refugees European nations are experiencing. No one wants to exacerbate the suffering the displaced hordes have already experienced. The question becomes one of how much countries and their people should be expected to do. I don’t know the answer to that question…but confiscating the valuables of refugees does nothing to display a commitment to compassion and caring.
