Anxiety over being forced from home is common while the European court of justice decides if Denmark’s ‘Ghetto Law’ is discrimination
Gabriel Hilty and Tania Korwin-Zmijowski
In the housing block of Askerød, children put down their school backpacks to play football as parents push along bikes and retirees sit down for a coffee with their neighbors.
The calm atmosphere falls apart on paper; the public housing apartments in the Copenhagen suburb Greve are on the Danish government’s list of “parallel communities”, clearing the way for the possible destruction of over half of the buildings. Residents have seen the forced evictions in other parts of Denmark and are anxious about their community.
Eva Birkved, 83, has lived in Askerød for more than 20 years. She moved from her home in the countryside, starting a job in Copenhagen for a company designing ship engines. The thought of potentially having to leave the established community where she’s actively involved in groups like the gardening society is frightening:
“You don’t know which houses might be destroyed,” she said, “so people are very anxious about what’s going to happen.”
Denmark’s controversial “ghetto law” was introduced in 2018 and creates a list of areas that fall behind national indicators on education, employment, income and criminal convictions. Those with more than 50% of residents from “non-western” backgrounds are designated as “parallel communities”, and at risk under the law to public housing being sold off and demolished and residents being forcibly displaced.
The law is currently being challenged at the EU court of justice (ECJ) for breaching the EU’s race discrimination law. A decision is expected by the summer, and a non-binding but influential opinion by one of the Court’s top legal advisors found the scheme to be directly racially discriminating.
Residents in the Mjølnerparken estate in Copenhagen and Schackenborgvænge in Slagelse, formerly designated “ghettos” where many have been evicted, are leading the legal challenge.
“It looks like some cases in the world where people have no rights.”
Muhammad Aslam
Muhammad Aslam, 59, moved into Mjølnerparken when it was built in 1987. An immigrant to Denmark at seven, he has held a Danish passport for more than 30 years and is fully fluent in Danish. Aslam raised four children in the community who are now studying and working adults.
In the past years they were forced out of their apartment, which was sold to a private company and now has a rent close to triple the original seven thousand Danish kroner.
“I couldn’t imagine in my dreams that my own country would make such kind of laws against the people in Denmark,” Aslam said. “It looks like some cases in the world where people have no rights.”
Because the law also applies to descendants of non-western immigrants, Aslam’s four children are counted in the figure of people with a “non-western” background that determines if an area is a “parallel society”.
Aslam is one of the residents who challenged the Danish housing law, in the case now with the ECJ. He hopes for a ruling that acknowledges the law as discriminatory and illegal, and an effort from the Danish government to help those forcibly evicted across the country.
In Askerød, measures have been added for people moving in as an effort to get off of the list, including requiring an EU passport and proof of active work or education.
Anas Abou Chakra, 21, is one of the younger residents and studies finance in Copenhagen. He’s lived in the community for more than 10 years, and recognizes that his situation is more fortunate than others:
“My friends, we’re all the same age, we’re not as afraid of the consequences as maybe someone who has a family of six or seven.”
Despite not impacting him as much, Chakra said the law and being on the list is something that comes up in conversations, especially with elderly residents.
Amid the ongoing legal challenge, the Danish government maintains that the policy is effective.
“My goal is zero parallel societies,” Danish Social Affairs and Housing Minister Sophie Hæstorp Andersen said. “It’s really important that we continue.”
Whether representatives from parliament have visited Askerød:
“No, they have their figures,” Birkved said, “and that’s the only thing that counts. It’s really depressing.”
For Chakra, Birkved and others living in “parallel communities” across Denmark, the uncertainty is a part of daily life ahead of the ECJ ruling, and the updated list of communities published by the Danish government in December.
This story is relevant to a Danish audience, and a wider audience in Europe with the highly relevant social topics of immigration and defining a community. It also has wider relevance due to the involvement of the EU court of justice. Due to its feature style, it could be published in outlets that sometimes include this type of journalism like www.theguardian.com.