Netherlands: Money to combat criminal Moroccan youth

Starting next year Utrecht will receive 6 million euro to combat Moroccan criminal youth, according to Minister Hirsch Ballin.

The four big cities Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht receive 5 million now per year.  The minister admits that it is alarmingly many Moroccan youth turn criminal.  The money would be used to get the youth back on the right path.

Source: RTV Utrecht (Dutch)

Denmark: Feminist, socialist, devout Muslim

Feminist, socialist, devout Muslim: woman who has thrown Denmark into turmoil

In the land that launched the cartoons war between Islam and the west, Asmaa Abdol-Hamid finds herself on the frontline, gearing up for a new battle.

The 25-year-old social worker, student and town councillor describes herself as a feminist, a democrat, and a socialist. She has gay friends, opposes the death penalty, supports abortion rights, and could not care less what goes on in other people's bedrooms. In short, a tolerant Scandinavian and European.

She is also a Palestinian and a devout Muslim who insists on wearing a headscarf, who refuses, on religious grounds, to shake hands with males, and who is bidding fair to be the first Muslim woman ever to enter the Folketing, the Danish parliament in Copenhagen.

For the extreme right, the young activist is a political provocateur, an agent of Islamic fundamentalism bent on infiltrating the seat of Danish democracy. To many on the left, Ms Abdol-Hamid is also problematic, personifying through her dress the reactionary repression of women and an illiberal religious agenda that should have no place in her leftwing "red-green" alliance of socialists and environmentalists.

As a result of announcing her parliamentary candidacy earlier this month, the young Muslim and Danish citizen has been thrust to the centre of a debate tormenting Denmark and the rest of western Europe - on the place and values of Islam in modern Europe and the treatment of large Muslim minorities.

Ms Abdol-Hamid is unfazed. "I see more Islam here in Denmark than in Iran or in other places in the Middle East," she says. "It's easier to be a Muslim in Denmark than in Saudi Arabia . I don't feel a stranger here. I'm interested in politics. I want to talk about this society, about political issues. But I'm not in politics because I'm a Muslim."

Her ambition, combined with her insistence on flaunting her religious affiliation, have outraged the Danish political establishment and triggered a new bout of soul-searching almost two years after the publication of cartoons of the Prophet ignited violence and protest across the Islamic world.

"This goes far beyond the extreme right," says Toger Seidenfaden, editor of the Politiken daily newspaper. "Asmaa is insisting on the right to be a religious Muslim and that's provoking broad debate among the public."

The key issue is the headscarf and whether it can be accommodated in parliament. This month Ms Abdol-Hamid gained the candidacy for a safe Copenhagen seat for the leftwing Unity List.

The Danish People's Party or DFP, the far-right movement that unofficially props up the weak centre-right government of the prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, is on the warpath. A couple of DFP politicians compared the headscarf to the Nazi swastika. One described the prospective MP as "brainwashed".

"We don't like the idea of her performing as an Islamist in the parliament," says DFP spokesman Kim Eskildsen. "We find it wrong that she'll use the parliament as a tool for Islamism ... We don't consider this woman a Nazi. But the way the headscarf is used is comparable to other totalitarian symbols."

The happiest country in the world, according to one detailed survey of international living standards and public attitudes, Denmark is economically highly successful, with the lowest unemployment in the EU.

For the country's 200,000 Muslims and immigrants, however, that happiness is increasingly somewhere else. By virtue of the DFP's influence on the centre-right government, Denmark has enacted the tightest anti-immigration legislation in Europe in recent years.

Many Danes married to foreigners now commute into Copenhagen every day from the southern Swedish town of Malmo across the bridge linking the two cities because they cannot obtain residence for their spouses at home.

Ms Abdol-Hamid, who shares a one-room council flat with one of her six sisters in the "ghetto" of Vollsmose, in the town of Odense, says her political mission is to fight for this underclass.

"This is such a rich country. But we have people in Denmark in deep poverty and nobody helps them. For me the welfare system is very close to Islam. But we need to change the government."

But conservative Muslim leaders are also disapproving of her activism.

"Some Muslims don't think it's right for a female to act like this. They go to my father and tell him, get her married, get her married," she laughs. "Others think you can't be Muslim and Danish at the same time. Some of the Muslims and the extreme right are just the same.

"And there are women in my party who say that anyone who wears the headscarf is oppressed. It's like they think I'm dumb. They're taking away my individuality. We need the right to choose. It's up to us whether or not we wear headscarves.

"They think I'm a woman from the Middle East. No. I'm a Danish Muslim."

Source: Guardian (English)

UK: Pregnant teen stabbed to death

The husband of a pregnant teenager who was stabbed to death in her own home was today arrested by murder squad detectives.

The 24-year-old husband of Sana Ali, 17, and a 16-year-old youth were arrested this afternoon by detectives on suspicion of murder.

Mrs Ali and her unborn child both died following the attack at her home in Bury, Greater Manchester, on Friday.

Mrs Ali, who was originally from Pakistan, moved to Britain five years ago.

The teenager's blood-soaked body was discovered in an upstairs bedroom of the property in Throstle Grove at around 4.15pm on Friday.

Sair Ali married Sana in December last year.

Paramedics took the teenager to Fairfield Hospital, but they were unable to save her or her unborn child.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: "Two people have been arrested on suspicion of murder after the death of a pregnant teenager in Bury.

"A 24-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy were arrested this afternoon.

"They are due to be questioned by detectives later today."

Earlier today police said that extra officers would patrol the area where she was killed.

They hope the extra patrols will reassure neighbours shocked by the attack.

Detective Chief Inspector Keith Dillon said: 'She has a number of injuries. It does look to be a violent attack.

'This is a nice, quiet residential area and I realise that it will have been a shock for those living here to realise what has happened.

'Extra patrols will be put in place in the local area over the coming days to reassure the community and encourage them to come forward and tell us what they know.'

He said Mrs Ali's family had been interviewed and he would not rule out the murder being an honour killing.

He added: 'I am keeping an open mind on absolutely everything. That doesn't mean I think it is or that I think it is not.'

Source: Metro (English)

Norway: Asylum seeker an vacation picked up by Iranian police

I am not an expert in asylum laws, but I understand they are there to help people who need asylum. And yet, I constantly read on the news about asylum seekers going on vacation to their homeland. Why would somebody who's running for his life go back willingly to such a place?

Norwegian-Iranian Mamand Mamandy had a brutal meeting with police after drinking two beers while on holiday in Iran. "It's getting better now, but I am still in great pain," Mamandy, 35, told Aftenposten.no. "My brother is a doctor, and treated me after the whipping. I was in great pain and could not sleep." Mamandy, a Kurd, explained that he was visiting his mother in Baneh, Iran in April when he was arrested by police . "We were on an outing with family and friends, six or seven in the evening, and were having a barbecue and enjoying ourselves. Altogether I drank two beers. The police happened to drive by," Mamandy said. He said that he was immediately arrested and taken to the police station where he was sentenced to 130 lashes. This sentence, for beer drinking, was carried out publicly according to news agency Iran Focus. "I received 130 lashes on the back of my body. Police whipped me," Mamandy said. He came to Norway as an asylum seeker in 1999. He lives in Drammen with his wife and they are awaiting Norwegian citizenship. Mamandy traveled home to Norway shortly after his punishment and has been since treated by his family doctor here. Aftenposten.no has been in contact with the Foreign Ministry, who said that they had not been contacted by Mamandy or his family in connection with the matter.
Source: Aftenposten (English)

Switzerland: Move for vote on minarets

The construction of minarets in Switzerland looks sets to go to a nationwide vote after a group of rightwing politicians launched a campaign calling for a ban.

The country's Muslim community says it is stunned by what it sees as an "Islamophobic" move, which it warns will undermine already fragile relations.

Those behind a people's initiative, who include members of the county's biggest political party, the Swiss People's Party, have until November 2008 to raise the 100,000 signatures required to force a ballot.

Opponents are angling their attack on article 72 of the Swiss constitution, which allows the authorities to take appropriate measures to maintain the peace among different religious communities.

People's Party parliamentarian Ulrich Schlüer, who is co-president of the campaign committee, argues that the construction of minarets will create problems in communities and threaten the peace.

This has already happened in cantons Solothurn and Bern where plans to build minarets have run into local opposition.

"The minaret has nothing to do with religion: it is not mentioned in the Koran or other important Islamic texts. It just symbolises a place where Islamic law is established," Schlüer told swissinfo.

And it is this issue of Islamic law, and its so-called "incompatibility" with Swiss law, that lies at the root of rightwingers' complaints about minarets.

"No one in the [People's Party] is anti-Muslim. I think all Muslims in Switzerland are free to live here, but they have to respect that we have western-oriented liberal laws and that these laws are valid for everyone who wants to live here," said Schlüer.

He added that he had yet to receive the official backing of his party, but believes this will be forthcoming at its general assembly at the end of June when strategy will be fine-tuned ahead of October's parliamentary elections.

The rightwing drive to force a nationwide vote on minarets is being seen as a major setback by the League of Swiss Muslims. Adel Méjri, the organisation's president, says the construction of minarets is not even a priority for Swiss Muslims.

"As an organisation that is helping Muslims to integrate and become model citizens, we are shocked by this initiative," he said. "In our opinion, there are other far more important issues to address but the launching of this initiative blocks the possibility of dialogue."

What particularly galls Méjri is the fact that at the end of March the Swiss justice minister and strongman of the People's Party, Christoph Blocher, invited around 20 members of the Muslim community for talks on integration and security.

Méjri also points to a report by the Federal Commission against Racism in September last year, which revealed that Swiss Muslims face discrimination in all walks of life – a situation that could be exacerbated by the minarets' affair.

"Through dialogue we can find solutions but the aggressive – or dare I say "Islamophobic" – way in which this [minarets] is being treated could have unforeseen consequences. This kind of initiative threatens peace and hurts Muslims," he said.

Both the Protestant and Catholic churches have rallied to the defence of the Muslim community, claiming the constitutional right to religious freedom allows the building of minarets.

"We must recognise that there are a large number of Muslims in Switzerland and they have a right to practise their religion," said Walter Müller, spokesman for the Swiss Bishops Conference.

Yet while church leaders dismiss the initiative as a propaganda stunt, they say there is a deep need for further and extensive dialogue to help allay public fears of Islam.

"While it's true that there is this right to religious freedom, I don't think we can suddenly erect 20 minarets in Switzerland without there being an understanding of how Muslims practise their faith and an understanding of the importance of a minaret or mosque," said Simon Weber, spokesman for the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches.

Source: Swiss Info (English), h/t FOMI (Swedish)

Germany: Import brides isolated

Necla Kelek, an Istanbul-born sociologist and writer, has made a name for herself in Germany with a book about "mail-order brides" brought from rural Turkey as wives for young Turkish men living in Germany.

The marriages, arranged by the man's parents according to traditional customs, have markedly increased the number of Turkish women in Germany who have little or no knowledge of their new home country and often end up isolated in Turkish ghettos.

In addition to writing the book "The Foreign Bride", Kelek has campaigned -- unsuccessfully -- for a law requiring Turkish brides to be at least 24 years old before they are allowed to move to Germany.

Parent's separation led to freedom

Kelek moved to Germany with her family as a child but rebelled against the same traditions she describes in her book.

"What saved me was that my father abandoned us and I was not attractive enough for suitors. It is because of this that I am free," Kelek told Reuters by telephone from Berlin.

"I am a very religious person and am also raising my son to be religious. Islamic tradition and Turkish culture are in me but I cannot accept a system in which I am not free and in which I must serve a man."

Kelek explains that her older sisters were married off in Turkey when they were young. "My father did not like the level of freedom between boys and girls in Germany. We had to serve my father when he came home. However, one day I rebelled against his authority and locked myself in a room. He broke the door down with an axe. That was the last time I saw him. Then he returned to Turkey."

Fresh import brides hamper integration

Kelek thinks there is no process of integration among Muslim immigrants in Germany. "When you continuously bring in fresh brides from central Anatolia, you will never get integration. Every year, a new first generation of immigrants arrives, and the integration process starts all over again. I campaigned that Turkish import brides should be at least 24 years old to come to Germany. But this failed as some Turkish groups thought it discriminated against the brides," Kelek explains.

"Many of the import brides come from almost feudal societies, where they have to serve men morning to night. For them obviously it is good if they are escaping this. I call this the Germany 'dowry', because in former times a price had to be paid for the bride. Now today if the groom says 'I will bring you to Germany' the parents are often willing to give the girl away for free.

The stigma of the headscarf

In Kelek's opinion the headscarf is a stigma that a covered woman cannot escape.. "Whether a woman covers up or strips in both instances she is dependant on the man and not free. In both cases she is a sexual object."

"I am not trying to turn every girl into a victim. But there are victims and I talk about them. Maybe sometimes I do not mention the willing headscarf wearers enough. Fine. But those women take no responsibility for the misery that weakens the quality of life of many Muslim women. Their social and political responsibility extends only to saying 'believe in God and pray. That will free you'," Kelek explains.

Source: Turkish Daily News (English)

Study: Danes don't integrate either

The study brings up a good point, but I think it's wrong to compare retirees in Spain to second generation Danes.

Although immigrants in Denmark have been criticised by the public, politicians and the media for not integrating and instead living alongside people from the country, various studies show that Danes living abroad follow precisely the same pattern, reported 24timer newspaper Monday.

One new study, conducted by sociologist Karen O'Reilly of Loughborough University in the UK, showed that Northern Europeans largely associate only with their own kind when living abroad. It also showed that for the 35,000 or so Danes living on the Costa del Sol in Southern Spain, integration was 'minimal'.

O'Reilly's research indicated that only five percent of those Danes could speak fluent Spanish and that most still eat traditional Danish food such as smørrebrød and frikadeller, they rarely vote in local elections, and most live in an almost exclusively Danish community. She said that trend was typical among Northern Europeans, but most glaring among Danes and Brits.

'Beyond the fact that only a few can speak the local languages, the lack of integration is caused by people living in their own little bubbles,' said O'Reilly. 'British and Danish people live close together in their own mini-communities. What's more, Danes don't work with the locals, either because they're retired or because they work in services aimed only at Danes.'

Other information supports this analysis. Figures from the network Danes Worldwide indicated that nine out of 10 Danes continue to feel Danish regardless of how long they have lived abroad - and more than half of those said they feel more Danish than before they left Denmark.

Reporters from 24timer conducting their own study were greeted by the same tendencies. In fact, one needed to travel no further than across the Øresund Strait to Malmö, Sweden to find this trend, where nearly 75 percent of residents in the city's Hyllie district were Danish and 45 percent in the Annastad district.

'I've experienced a great number of cases where Danes consciously keep their children and family out of the community,' said Lisa G James, who operates a homepage aimed at integrating Danes into Swedish society.

She called it a 'paradox' that Danes chastise immigrants for not integrating, yet behave in the same manner when they move abroad.


Source: Copenhagen Post (English)

Oslo: Integration before further immigration

Oslo City Council leader Erling Lae and mayoral candidate Fabian Stang believe that Oslo's immigrants need to be integrated before new immgrants can come in.

The Conservative Party politicians call for a halt to immigration until the integration process is improved.

"For Oslo it must be important to do everything possible to integrate those who are here properly before discussing taking in new immigrants," Stang told NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting).

"We must be honest and say that all of the family reunifications are a strain on our city," Lae told Aftenposten.no.

In the past year there have been 5,000 family reunifications in Oslo, and Lae believes this increases immigrant unemployment. He also believes that the primary reason behind living standard differences in the capital is immigrant women living isolated from Norwegian society.

"One of the most important things we can do is to get immigrant women into employment," Lae said.

One solution to the demands is stricter regulations about asylum seekers remaining in the region where they are placed.

"We can't put up a wall around Oslo, but it is important that we demand stricter rules," Lae said.

Frank Aarebrot, Professor of Comparative Politics, believes that the claims are a stunt for the local election campaign, and that the Conservative politicians are hoping to nab some of the populist Progress Party's voters.

Lae said that the comment given to NRK was a reply to an article in the weekly Mandag Morgen (Monday Morning), which argued for increased immigration in Norway and the rest of Europe.

"We should not be discussing increased immigration now. The most important thing for us is the debate about integration," Lae said.

Source: Aftenposten (English)

Belgium: Female genital mutilation

The total number of circumcised women in Belgium is estimated at 2,745.  The total number of young women under 14 that run a great risk of genital mutilation is 534.  In Antwerp the number is 409 women and 90 young girls.  The data is from Ghent researcher Els Leye and was published as part of a day against female genital mutilation.

Most circumcised women come from Ghana (343), Congo (331) and Guinea (240).  The numbers are almost certainly underestimated because they do not include asylum seekers and illegal immigrants

At least 2 million women are circumcised yearly around the world, mostly in Africa.  Female circumcision occurs more and more in Belgium, in kitchens and back rooms.  Female circumcision is punishable by up to 7 years in prison.  No legal process was started on that count till today.

Source: HLN (Dutch)

Belgium: Muslim gathering

Several hundred Muslims gathered at Heizel in Brussels for a cultural meeting about the "Muslim spirituality and universal values: for a constructive convergence". It is the largest Muslim gathering ever in Belgium, and according to organizers is a success.

Muslim organizations from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands are at the basis of the initiative. For two days the public, mostly Muslims, can debate and attend conferences about the building up of Islam in Europe, the identity of Muslims in Europe, the presence of Islam in the world and the contribution of Islam towards living together.

Arab musicians from all over Europe gave concerts the first night.

Source: HLN (Dutch)