Press Release
Denmark’s Minister of Discrimination Demands Increased Government Control of Muslim Families

In a letter sent to the country's municipalities on June 29, 2020, the country's Minister of Integration, Mattias Tesfaye, commands the country's municipalities to “pay special attention” to children, youth and adults who suffer from “negative social control”; a notion, which in years have been used as a political cover to attack Islamic child upbringing, rules and family values. The municipalities are also told to “pay special attention” to children and youth “who are at risk of being sent to re-education journeys.” The Minister of Integration ends by referring to publications on “prevention of extremism.”

The fact that such a letter was sent to the municipalities, which includes thousands of school teachers, educators, social workers, etc. should cause worry and indignation to any Muslim who wants to protect his/her Islamic culture. The letter makes any Muslim family a suspect in the eyes of public workers if they are assessed as not being “Danish” enough. It should also result in an outrage from anyone who has witnessed the various governments' mind-control over the values and identity of Muslims.

Notions like “re-education journeys”, “negative social control” and “extremism” are heavily politicized and used exclusively about Muslims in this country in the public debate. “Negative social control” is used about Islamic child upbringing, which prohibits sexual relations before marriage as well as drinking parties. “Extremism” is used about Islamic thoughts such as Sharia, Khilafah (Caliphate) and choosing the Quran over manmade ideals. So they are basic viewpoints, which are inseparable part of Islam.

The government surveillance of Muslim's way of life has gone so far, that the “ghetto plan”, which was introduced in 2018, commands forced institutionalization of one-year old children, 25 hours a week, to indoctrinate them in the “Danish democratic traditions and values” … in other words they must be secularized before they can even talk!

In the media, the Minister of Integration has tried to cover up by saying that this is also about vulnerable children and adolescents who have been victims of physical and mental violence during the corona crisis. However, the question that the uncritical Danish press fails to ask is: where is the documentation that foreigners in particular are affected by this? Anyone who receives the letter from the Minister knows very well which group in the populations he is placing under suspicion.

Has the Minister of Social Affairs sent a letter to the municipalities warning them about children who live in homes of high alcohol consumption where they are at risk of negligence and sexual abuse and who need help after the Coronavirus lockdown?

Studies has shown that “more than 120,000 children grow up in families with alcohol problems” and that “two thirds of the children who are subject to violence, do not tell anyone. The same goes for families with alcohol problems,” according to an article published by the Danish Psychological Association entitled “Coronavirus crisis hits vulnerable children and young people more severely”. This is why the government's initiative has nothing to do with vulnerable children and young people, but about mind control and battling Islamic values.

Tesfaye's grotesque letter cements his as well as the government’s place as the biggest executers of negative social control against Muslims in Denmark. It has similarities with the leaked directives from the Chinese authorities monitoring the Uighur Muslims, and gives an impression of the totalitarian conditions that Denmark is approaching. In addition, it is one of many signs that racism and discrimination are structurally embedded in Danish politics, which the Muslims must staunchly resist.

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Denmark