(Zaman Al Wasl)- As Denmark requires anyone who takes Danish citizenship to shake hands at the naturalization ceremony, Syrian refugees from conservative religious ground find the law an abuse for their freedom and similar to Niqab ban law in some EU countries.
Denish lawmakers say the law, which passed in December and comes into effect Tuesday, is aimed at Muslims who refuse to touch members of the opposite sex.
Lawyer Mustafa Naous, director of international relations at the VIA University told Zaman al-Wasl that the handshake has long been considered in Danish society as a way to express mutual respect, a way to express trust and love and confirm the close relationship between people. The Danes do not shake hands on such occasions is a lack of respect for the other party, he added.
In the last ten days, the law has prompted strong reactions from some of the mayors who must conduct such ceremonies, and who are upset that they will become the faces and fists of a policy they call awkward, “purely symbolic” and irrelevant to an applicant’s qualifications. They say the Danish Parliament, which approved the measure, has artificially elevated a social custom to a national value.
Critics of the bill claim that the aim of this law is to discourage Muslims from seeking Danish citizenship, calling the proposal biased and describing it as a useless formality.
Also, some Muslim and Jewish groups prohibit or discourage their faithful from touching members of the opposite sex outside their immediate families.
The country’s integration minister, Inger Stojberg, declined an interview, but wrote on her Facebook page that a handshake was a “visible sign that you’ve taken Denmark to heart.”
Stojberg, who is a member of the center-right Venstre party, told Parliament that municipalities would face fines if they did not abide by the handshake law.
Some Syrian activists said the integration has its own price and ‘concessions’ which reflect aspects of understanding and not just respect.
To achieve citizenship in Denmark, an immigrant must have legal residence for up to nine years, pass a Danish language test, have no record of serious crime, be financially self-sufficient, and pass a test on Danish politics, history and society.
Syrians in Denmark arrived primarily as asylum seekers after the Syrian civil war. According to Statistics Denmark, 40,477 people of Syrian origin living in Denmark.
Denmark is not alone. Authorities in Switzerland and France have recently cited “lack of assimilation” in rejection of citizenship to foreigners who refuse to shake hands with officials, according to The New York Times.
“If you arrive in Denmark, where it’s custom to shake hands when you greet, if you don’t do it it’s disrespectful,” said Martin Henriksen, a lawmaker who has been critical of Islam and is the right-wing Danish People’s Party’s spokesman on immigration. “If one can’t do something that simple and straightforward, there’s no reason to become a Danish citizen.”
This summer, the Parliament prohibited the wearing of face veils in public, although researchers say only about 200 Muslim women follow the practice in Denmark. In 2015, the country sharply cut social programs for asylum seekers, and a law passed in 2016 allows the authorities to confiscate migrants’ valuables to help cover the cost of their stays in Denmark.
The handshake requirement will deter few applicants for citizenship, officials said, but it sends a harsh message to Muslims, and many mayors who conduct citizenship ceremonies said they would find ways to avoid it.
One mayor said he had met a female asylum seeker who declined to shake his hand for religious reasons, but he did not find it disturbing.
Danish Parliament earlier this year prohibited the wearing of face veils in public, which researchers say only 200 Muslim women practice in Denmark according to Reuters.
In 2015, the country reduced its social programs for asylum seekers, and a law passed in 2016 allows the authorities to confiscate migrants’ valuables to help cover the cost of their stays in Denmark.
Zaman Al Wasl, NY Times
Zaman Al Wasl
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