SUMMARIES OF SELECTED STATEMENTS
Access to Public Administration Files Act and to a principle of increased access
to files corresponding to section 14 of the Act. At the same time, the Ombudsman noted that, prior to the refusal, the Immigration Service had asked the
journalist to delimit or clarify his request for access, but that he did not wish to
do so.
The journalist also complained about the extent of anonymisation in 32 cases
to which he got partial access. The Ombudsman did not find any grounds for
criticising the extent of the anonymisation either.
2014-42. MONITORING VISIT TO THE ASYLUM CENTRE ‘CENTER
SANDHOLM’ – PERSONS UNDER TOLERATED RESIDENCE STATUS
In 2012 and 2014, the Ombudsman carried out monitoring visits to the asylum
centre ‘Center Sandholm’. The visits were carried out together with the Institute
for Human Rights and DIGNITY ‒ Danish Institute Against Torture.
The purpose of the monitoring visits was to assess the general conditions for
persons under tolerated residence status who live at ‘Center Sandholm’. The
monitoring visit in 2014 included a group of 25 individuals who had been under
tolerated residence status and had had a duty to reside at ‘Center Sandholm’
since 2012 or earlier.
Persons under tolerated residence status at ‘Center Sandholm’ are subject to
a number of restrictions. Among other things, they have to live at the centre (often in rooms with one or two other people), they have a duty to report
regularly to the police (typically every day), they cannot take on paid work, and
they receive a limited cash allowance (a maximum of 31 DKK a day). They get
meal coupons for the centre’s cafeteria. They can in principle cook their own
food, but the reality is that this is very difficult for them because of the limited
financial resources available to them. There is no limit to the duration of tolerated residence.
Together with the indeterminate duration, the Ombudsman considered the
overall conditions for persons under tolerated residence status at ‘Center Sandholm’ to have a very stressful and restrictive impact on a basic way of living. The
general conditions were not, however, contrary to the ban on ‘degrading treatment’ in the UN Convention against Torture and in the European Convention
on Human Rights.
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