Denmark took a new step in its management of foreigners on Wednesday December 15. Justice Minister Nick Haekkerup announced that the Nordic country plans to rent 300 prison places in Kosovo, to intern foreign citizens, convicted in Denmark, who are to be deported to their home country after serving their sentence. On June 3, the government led by the Social Democrats had passed a law allowing it to subcontract the reception of asylum seekers and refugees to a third country.
The agreement on foreign detainees was confirmed, Thursday, December 16, by the Kosovar Minister of Justice, Albulena Haxhiu. This is a first for this small and very poor Balkan country, led since the beginning of 2021 by the nationalist left party Autodetermination !, close to the European Socialist Party, and which dreams of joining the European Union. .
A letter of intent between the two governments is expected to be signed on Monday, December 20, in Pristina. A treaty will then be submitted for the approval of two-thirds of Parliament. Mme Haxhiu revealed that Danish prisoners would be locked in the detention center in Gjilan, in the east of the country, and assured that there would be no terrorists or prisoners in “High risk” among them. According to her, this outsourcing project “Is the recognition of Kosovo and its institutions as a serious country”.
“A Danish prison in another country”
In Copenhagen, the Minister of Justice announced that negotiations with Pristina had started a year ago. The device was presented as part of an agreement between the Social Democrats, the Conservatives, the Danish People’s Party and the Socialist People’s Party, to reform the prison system. The objective is to increase the capacity of Danish prisons to be able to accommodate a thousand additional prisoners.
At the same time as the opening of new cells in existing establishments, the government therefore intends to free up 300 places by getting rid of inmates of foreign origin, sentenced to expulsion once their sentence has been served. They were 368 in 2020. “You have to imagine that this is a Danish prison. It is located just in another country ”, explained Mr. Haekkerup, specifying that the team leading the center in Gjilan would be Danish.
In Pristina, Mme Haxhiu confirmed: “The laws in force in Denmark will apply, the management will be Danish, but the prison officers will be from the Republic of Kosovo. Well-being and security [des détenus] will be under their full responsibility. “
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