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Denmark Discriminates Against Muslims, Britain Against Refugees
STRASBOURG, April 3 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Council of Europe on Tuesday criticized Denmark for discrimination against its Muslim population and Britain for its ill treatment of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees.
The human rights body's European Commission against Racism and Intolerance said in a report released in Strasbourg that "problems of xenophobia and discrimination persist and concern particularly non-EU citizens - notably immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees, but also Danish nationals of foreign background."
"People perceived to be Muslims, and especially Somalis, appear to be particularly vulnerable to these phenomena."
The report said they faced discrimination in the labor and housing markets and getting access to public places like discotheques, restaurants and bars.
It also complained about the use of xenophobic propaganda in politics.
Denmark's government and several Danish political parties rejected the criticism.
Tuesday's report also details continuing problems in Austria, Albania and Macedonia, countries with sizable Muslim communities. However, it found that intolerance of refugees and asylum seekers was "particularly acute" in the U.K.
The report said this was "reflected in the xenophobic and intolerant coverage of these groups of persons in the media."
But it also slashed Britain for the "tone of the discourse resorted to by politicians in support of the adoption and enforcement of increasingly restrictive asylum and immigration laws."
The BBC online service quoted Home Office Minister Barbara Roche as saying the report contained a series of "very serious factual inaccuracies."
"For example, it claims discriminating behavior by immigration officials at borders. Yet of the 89 million passenger arrivals in the U.K. last year there were only 40 complaints of racial discrimination against the service and one was upheld," she said.
"Fortunately this report is out of date. It would have better reflected the situation a year ago. Since then, there have been some positive developments," Denmark's Foreign Minister Mogens Lykketoft, a Social Democrat, told reporters.
"There is a generally more positive attitude in the population towards immigrants, who are considered today as more of a potential than a problem," he said.
Eva Smith-Asmussen, a member of the research team behind the report and is herself Danish, insisted there were inherent problems in the U.K. such as racist chanting at football matches.
"There's a certain resentment in the population [against asylum seekers] and this is being boosted by certain media and certain politicians," she told the BBC.
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