74 | Annual Report 2018
It would be possible to extract information about
the planned staffing during the match and about
the working hours recorded for the staff on duty
around the time of the match. However, access to the
information was denied with reference to section 33
paragraph (1) of the Access to Public Administration
Files Act. The police emphasised that granting access to the information would adversely affect specifically the handling of future matches between the
two football clubs in terms of safety and prevention.
Likewise, knowledge by the public of the planning by
the police for the football match and the resources
which the police had used in connection with the
match would considerably impair the possibility of
preventing breaches of the law at similar football
matches and other similar events in the future.
The Ombudsman found no grounds for repudiating
the statement of the police district and the National
Police that, based on a specific assessment, it had
been necessary for safety and prevention reasons to
deny access to information about the resources used
by the police in connection with the football match.
The National Police had stated that it was an established practice not to provide information about
the level of police resources used in connection
with major police operations, including in relation to
football matches.
This occasioned the Ombudsman to point out that
an established practice by the authorities concerned
is not adequate grounds for denying access to information with reference to section 33 paragraph (1)
of the Access to Public Administration Files Act – as
a specific assessment of the necessity of denying
access must be made in each individual case.
2018-39. Unannounced monitoring visits to Departure Centre Sjælsmark – conditions for children
In October 2017, the Ombudsman’s Children’s Division carried out two unannounced monitoring visits
to Departure Centre Sjælsmark. The first visit was
carried out together with DIGNITY – Danish Institute
Against Torture.
The visits concerned the conditions for children
who are housed at the centre with their parents. The
children and their families are rejected asylum seekers
who do not assist in their deportation and are therefore required to reside at the centre.
The Ombudsman’s assessment was that the children
housed at the centre were generally to be regarded
as living under difficult conditions. He assessed that
this was not primarily due to the specific facilities etc.
at the centre but to a greater extent to the simple fact
that the children were required to reside at the departure centre instead of living in normal society.
Nevertheless, the Ombudsman did not find that the
conditions for children at the departure centre could
generally be presumed to violate the UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child, the UN Convention Against
Torture or Article 3 of the European Convention on
Human Rights. Further, he stated that the question
of the requirement for the families to reside at the
departure centre is basically governed by the Aliens
Act, i.e. regulated by the legislature. It would therefore
be outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction under the
Ombudsman Act to take any further action on the
question, among others, of the requirement to reside
at the centre.
However, the Ombudsman pointed to some specific
aspects of the centre – such as the eating arrangements and the leisure activities available – which could
be changed with a view to improving the well-being of
the children.
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