Article 31: Safeguarding Refugees in Denmark?

Does Denmark comply with the Refugee Convention when asylum seekers are punished with imprisonment for entering the country with forged documents to apply for asylum? Article 31 of the 1951 Refugee Convention is very clear – refugees should not be penalized for entering the country without authorization if they contact the Danish authorities as soon as possible to apply for asylum. Yet we see more and more cases where the Danish authorities prosecute asylum seekers even though they have applied for asylum and their application is being processed by the immigration authorities. We want to shed light on this issue – why the rules have been made, how are they being practiced and what does it mean for the individual refugee when the convention is not respected, and what are the consequences also in the long term.