Denmark's Research Trip to Nauru Cancelled After Danish MPs Criticise Offshore Detention

This article originally appeared on VICE Australia

Maybe we knew this already, but it turns out it's pretty difficult to visit the island of Nauru once you've gone on the record saying you think that the offshore detention centre there might violate human rights.

Two politicians found this out the hard way, when they were denied access to the detention centre as part of a planned delegation that consisted of six MPs from Danish parliament. The trip was ostensibly for research—Denmark's centre-right government has actually been considering adopting similar hardline immigration policies to Australia—but the two MPs who had their access to the island denied were from minority leftist parties who aren't big fans of offshore detention.

One of the prospective delegates, Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen from the socialist-green Enhedslisten party had told the Guardian she was worried about conditions on Nauru.

"For me the visit is an opportunity to ask critical questions about the model," she said.

Another, Jacob Mark from the Socialist People's Party, had said that it was "important for those of us who do not agree with the policy to see it with out own eyes."

Now the whole trip—which was organised by the Danish embassy in Canberra—has been cancelled. So nobody from Denmark gets to see what the conditions on Nauru are like—although they can probably guess.

Even though their island holiday has been cancelled, it's likely that Denmark will continue to consider adopting the Australian offshore detention model. The European spokesperson for the anti-immigration Danish People's Party, Kenneth Kristensen Berth, told the ABC in February that he wanted to make Denmark "the least attractive in western Europe" for asylum seekers.

The DPP, who offer support to Denmark's minority government led by the conservative-liberal Venstre party, have suggested refugees could be sent to north-eastern Greenland, or to Tanzania in exchange for aid money. Nauru also receives aid money from the Australian government in exchange for hosting its detention centre.

Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has called for more access to Nauru for journalists and politicians. Her recent visa application to visit Nauru—she's a vocal critic of offshore detention—was rejected.

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