BBC: Denmark's Immigration Minister Birthe Roenn Hornbech has been sacked after 36 stateless Palestinians were wrongly refused citizenship.Ms Hornbech, 67, admitted that she knew her department had broken a UN convention in 2008 but failed to report the matter to MPs until 2010.
Shortly after PM Lars Loekke Rasmussen announced his decision, a second minister announced she was resigning.
Education Minister Tina Nedergaard said she was going for personal reasons.
Since it came to power in 2001, Denmark's Liberal-Conservative coalition government has tightened immigration and citizenship laws and has relied on the support of Pia Kjaersgaard's right-wing Danish People's Party to stay in power.
In a statement, the prime minister said he had decided to set up an independent inquiry into the handling of stateless people by the immigration ministry.
The scandal surrounding Ms Hornbech began in January when it emerged that her ministry had denied Palestinian youths citizenship. Under the 1961 UN convention on stateless persons, to which Denmark is a signatory, stateless children born in a country have the right to citizenship there before their 21st birthday.
Mr Loekke Rasmussen said that 36 stateless persons had "mistakenly been denied Danish nationality and that parliament should have been informed at an earlier point". >>> | Tuesday, March 08, 2011
