Denmark explores foreign asylum processing beyond Rwanda
Denmark’s conference on migration challenges will include discussions on the ‘Rwanda model’ for an external European asylum center, with no specific mention that it must be Rwanda, says Kaare Dybvad Bek, the Minister for Immigration and Integration. Plans for a Danish processing center in Rwanda are paused, following a government transition post-2022 election. The concept aims to move asylum processing outside of Denmark to counter perilous human smuggling. The current coalition government, including the Moderates, objects to the Rwandan center, having criticized the notion during the election. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen deems Europe’s current migration flows unsustainable, with the existing system effectively broken. Although a previous political declaration indicated a Danish-Rwandan collaboration on asylum, the current government’s plan promotes establishing a center in cooperation with the EU or other countries.