Denmark will require anyone who takes Danish citizenship to shake hands at the naturalization ceremony, under a law passed on Thursday, which lawmakers say is aimed at Muslims who refuse on religious grounds to touch members of the opposite sex.
The law has prompted strong reactions from some of the mayors who must conduct such ceremonies, and who are upset that they will become the faces and fists of a policy they call awkward, “purely symbolic” and irrelevant to an applicant’s qualifications. They say the Danish Parliament, which approved the measure, has artificially elevated a social custom to a national value.
But Denmark is not alone. Authorities in Switzerland and France have recently cited “lack of assimilation” in rejection of citizenship to foreigners who refuse to shake hands with officials.
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nytimes.com
The Danish parliament has approved funding for a plan to hold foreign criminals on a tiny island, despite criticism from the UN and local opposition.
Funding for the scheme was included in the 2019 Danish budget, which lawmakers voted through on Thursday. A centre for people convicted of crimes ranging from murder and rape to less serious offences is to be established in 2021 and will cost 759m krone (£92m).
Lindholm is used as a laboratory and crematorium by scientists researching swine flu, rabies and other contagious diseases. One ferry serving the three-hectare (seven-acre) island south-west of Copenhagen is named Virus.
The plan has aroused opposition in the communists of Vordingborg, of which Lindholm is part. “People think this is not the solution to the real problems,” the Vordingborg mayor, Mikael Smed, said before the parliamentary vote.
The UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, expressed serious concerns about the idea on Wednesday.
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theguardian.com
