A/HRC/34/50/Add.1
also signals the need to promote a sensitive interreligious dialogue that avoids mixing up
questions of religious diversity in Denmark with political views on the situation in the
Middle East.
2.
Muslim groups
28.
Although Muslims in Denmark share some of the problems articulated by the Jewish
community, their situation is generally very different. As in some other Western European
countries, Islam in Denmark is typically perceived as a new religious reality, mainly
connected with various waves of immigration in the late twentieth and early twenty-first
century.
29.
In the absence of official statistical data, estimates of the numbers of Muslims living
in Denmark are difficult but usually run up to 5 per cent of the population. Without any
doubt, Islam constitutes the second largest religion in Denmark after Christianity. A
number of Muslim organizations have obtained the status of acknowledged religious
community, which, inter alia, allows them to celebrate marriages with legal effect under
Danish law. Among the more than 100 mosques, there are only a handful of “visible”
mosques with a dome and a minaret, while most Muslims pray in rented halls and
converted warehouses. However, projects to construct new mosques are under way. The
construction of new houses of worship generally signals that a religious community feels at
home in the country and wishes to establish its existence in a permanent and visible
manner. In that sense, it could count as a symbol of integration. However, it is factually not
always appreciated as such, and Muslims have often encountered problems to obtain
permits to build mosques in Denmark. In Aarhus, Muslims have campaigned since 2000 for
the authorization to construct a new mosque. In March 2016, the mayor of Aarhus decided
to overturn the recent authorization issued by the municipality, admittedly on the basis of
revelations unearthed by an undercover television programme that exposed the extremist
views of some imams. Conditioning the free and peaceful exercise of freedom of religion
by Muslims, which includes the right to construct and maintain places of worship, on the
behaviour of an extremist minority within Islam (whose words might as well merit criminal
prosecution as incitement to hatred or violence, but do not represent the views of the
majority of Muslims) is unacceptable.
30.
Another important symbolic step towards consolidating religious presence,
throughout the generations, is the establishment of cemeteries. In various municipalities the
cemeteries (owned by the Folkekirke) have accommodated special sites for Muslim graves.
Moreover, one Muslim cemetery was recently established.
31.
All of the Muslims with whom the Special Rapporteur met in Denmark emphasized
that they could generally practise their religion freely and without facing major obstacles.
Meanwhile, more and more people had apparently grown accustomed to seeing women
wearing a headscarf, although the hijab could still cause controversies when worn in certain
professional settings or in rural areas. Nevertheless, there seemed to be a widespread
perception that Islam and “Danishness” do not easily — if at all — fit together. Public calls
for Muslims to “integrate” into Danish society could thus assume an ambivalent meaning.
On the one hand, integration was a necessary requirement in any society. In that sense it
was an obvious expectation, finally addressed to everyone. On the other hand, integration
could also be a proxy for expectations of a seamless assimilation. The latter understanding
seemed to be widespread. Even Muslims who were born in Denmark, spoke Danish as their
first language, successfully graduated within the Danish education system and never came
into any conflict with the law had been subjected to demands for “more integration”, to the
extent of making Muslims feel that they need to strip themselves of all visible signs of their
Muslim identity in order to be seen as “true Danes”. Successful university students told the
Special Rapporteur that they needed to go through an “everyday war for acceptance” in
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