Six hundred and sixty-six women were forced to live together with their abusers at a shelter.

A madording has been trying for seven months to get rejected women at Kærshovedgård Reception Center in Midtjylland to be transferred to a safer center.

Kærshovedgård Reception Center, located in Bording, was set up as a reception center in 2016. (Photo: © Bo Amstrup, Ritzau Scanpix)

By Jesper Ibfelt ([email protected]) 4 minutes ago

Over 200 men live there.

And 13 women.

Some of them have complained about sexual harassment - groping, unwanted advances, and lewd comments.

> "I think it's ridiculous."

> Kirsten Osmundsen, Red Cross volunteer

It's disproportionate that something as simple as a madording has caused rejected female asylum seekers to still be living at Kærshovedgård, critics argue.

- I think it's ridiculous that something like that should prevent their relocation and hope for a better place elsewhere, says the Red Cross volunteer Kirsten Osmundsen.

Kirsten Osmundsen has been involved in organizing women's clubs at the center for years and knows the women well.

- They can't even go for a walk, she says.

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Relocation delays

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It's been exactly seven months since the Ministry of Immigration and Integration announced that the only women at Kærshovedgård should be transferred to the center in Avnstrup, where families with children, who have typically had their asylum applications rejected, already live.

The reason for the transfer was, among other things, that women at Kærshovedgård were being subjected to sexual harassment.

The transfer from the center in Jutland to the center on Zealand has not yet been carried out due to different madordnings at the two centers.

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They live at Kærshovedgård

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* Length of stay: 39

* Deported by court order: 133

* Rejected asylum applicants: 44

* Others: 5

Source: Immigration Authority and Home Reintegration Authority (2. sept. 2024)

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Two types of madordnings

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Women at Kærshovedgård must, in contrast to families in Avnstrup, not cook their own meals.

In Avnstrup, families receive money to order food that they can prepare themselves. At Kærshovedgård, women eat the same food as the other residents at the center, which is served in the canteen.

It's part of the "motivation-promoting activities," which are intended to encourage rejected asylum seekers to leave. Like their accommodation and reporting obligations at the center.

And after seven months, it's still not clear whether women will be able to order food from outside when they move to Avnstrup - and if so, from whom.

Using food as a pressure tool to get women to leave finds Kirsten Osmundsen directly distasteful:

- We know from ourselves how we take care of each other around food, she says.

The Danish Prison and Probation Service runs Kærshovedgård Reception Center in Midtjylland. Previously, the center was a prison. (Photo: © Andrew Kelly - REUTERS)

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No caring mother

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Immigration and Integration Minister Kaare Dybvad Bek (S) maintains in several answers to Enhedslisten's Søren Søndergaard that women should not be allowed to cook their own meals.

The minister justifies it by stating that there are special conditions for families in Avnstrup and does not see it as practical to change the women's conditions.

- It should be clear to each individual asylum seeker, who is quartered at a reception center, that they no longer have the right to reside in Denmark and must leave the country, writes Kaare Dybvad Bek in one of her answers.

It was not possible to secure an interview with the minister.

Nor did the Red Cross, which runs the Avnstrup Reception Center, want to participate. Previously, however, the Red Cross has expressed concerns about differentiating treatment of residents at the center.

The Immigration Authority expects that the single women from Kærshovedgård will be able to be transferred to Avnstrup within a few months, once the conditions have been finally resolved.

In total, ten women are expected to leave Kærshovedgård. Three other women will remain, as they are in relationships.

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