Parallel Report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) 2015

The report concerns the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) in Denmark and Greenland.

This report consists of:

• ŸPart 1 deals with general measures to eliminate racial discrimination (the ICERD article 2) concerning the Danish Government’s general measures to eliminate racial discrimination including the action plans for ethnic integration and the Governments decision not to incorporate the ICERD in domestic law. Furthermore, the question of recognising Roma people and Greenlanders living in Denmark as national minorities is raised.
• ŸPart 2 concerns the enforcement of the Criminal Code sections 81 no. 6 and section 266b relating to racially motivated hate crimes and hate speech. (the ICERD article 4).
• ŸPart 3 concerns discrimination against ethnic minorities (the ICERD article 5) This part includes the following topics: Equal treatment before the courts in relation to interpretation issues, victims of domestic violence, the human rights situation for persons on tolerated stay, the right to family reunification for refugees with a one year temporary residence permit, discrimination against non-citizens, the right to housing, coercion in psychiatric treatment and the right to qualified translation in the healthcare services. Finally, there is a section on the right to education and training concerning mother tongue teaching.
• Part 4 on effective protection and remedies deals with the access to complaints handling at the Board of Equal Treatment and the challenges of recruiting persons with ethnic minority background to the police.
• ŸPart 5 concerns issues related to Greenland. The topics and recommendations have been prepared in cooperation with the Human Rights Council of Greenland.