can to protect the reef in the future. anchor: this is al jazeera. these are the top stories. the u.s. has declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency. the designation means more money in facilities to fight the virus. there are more than 6600 cases in the u.s. our correspondent has more from washington, d.c. reporter: the biden administration has been hearing from doctors across the country saying they were running out of time, if they had hope of containing this outbreak. we have seen them make this declaration as a public health emergency and another

declaration to freeze up funds. it allows the federal government to work with manufacturers to speed up testing, speed up vaccine production, and also get some good testing on the market. it is what they did with covid. it basically lowers the standard for the fda to approve these things. it allows them to hire people, so those people can go out and distribute these critically needed supplies. anchor: four police officers have been charged over the killing of breonna taylor, a black woman shot dead in her home during a botched police raid. it led to mass protests which developed into the black lives matter movement. beijing is conducting drills using live ammunition around taiwan. u.s. national security spokesman says he expects china will continue to react to a trip to taiwan while -- with nancy pelosi. and jerry and the u.s. has ordered a conspiracy theorist and broadcaster to pay more than $4 million to the parents of a boy killed in the 2012 sandy

hook school massacre. alex jones called the shooting a hoax. 20 children and six adults were killed. the russian court sentenced american basketball star rene greiner to nine years in print -- brittney griner to nine years in prison. security staff found vape cartridges in her luggage. she was fined 15 and at -- $15,000. residents of a south african township have beaten a group of men suspected of being illegal minors. . at least one person has been killed. crowds have targeted the miners after eight women were gang raped. those of the headlines. we will be back inalf an hour. goodbye. ♪

>> denmark's government faces accusations of racism. so-called nonwestern migrants are being moved out of city blocks. and some syrian asylum-seekers are fighting orders to deport them. what are the criticisms justified? this is "inside story." ♪ >> hello, and welcome to the program. denmark's government is being criticized for its plans to eradicate disadvantaged neighborhoods. a set of laws, controversially called the ghetto package, was introduced in 2018. it aimed to transform areas with high rates of crime and unemployment. rights groups say immigrant communities are being unfairly singled out. in an area with more than 50% of

so-called non-westerners can be put on this list. that is defined as people from outside europe, the u.s., canada, australia, and new zealand. and any deigned with one foreign parent. children above the age of one must spend 25 hours a week to learn the danish language away from their families. otherwise social welfare payments will be cut. government says these measures will help to integrate foreigners. but the u.n. and rights groups say the policies are racist. some are suing the government, saying the rules violate danish and european laws. we will bring in our guests in a moment. first, this report from copenhagen. reporter: mohammed as lum is a danish citizen. he came to copenhagen from pakistan as a seven-year-old. his children were born here. but the family have been disconnected from their fellow danes. labeled by their own government

as nonwestern. >> if you live in the western area, then you have full rights. if you live in a unwell western country, then you don't have the same right. it is very active -- very horrible to think about. it would be safe for us to send our kids and our generation to live in denmark in the future. reporter: the separation of citizens into western and non-western is part of a raft of measures the government has brought in to abolish so-called ghettos by the year 2030. by then, every district in the country must have a population that is at least 50% western. after that, non-westerners may only make up 30% of the inhabitants. 80% of these residents are from an immigrant background. the danish government can't make people leave areas like this purely on the basis of an ethnicity -- of ethnicity. it can be forced to sell off --

the idea is mainly people of western extraction, assumed to be more wealthy, will then be able to move back in. he fits uneasily into that western profile, but will also lose her home to more affluent tenants. >> they are gentrifying a whole neighborhood, and in many other parts of denmark, they are right now demolishing. it is like, proper housing that is being violated right now. reporter: human rights lawyers are now challenging the policies, known collectively as the ghetto packet. >> facing integration policy on crime rates is valid. but we object to removing people from their homes based on ethnicity. there have been positive developments in these residential areas. the measures against them have gotten more and more intense. reporter: the government declined our requests for an interview or statement. but as it pushes ahead with the controversial ghetto laws, many

here wait anxiously to see if their voices work -- will count for anything in the country where they were born and call home. >> denmark has been tightening its rules for immigrants and asylum-seekers. . the government revoked resident permits for hundreds of syrian refugees from damascus, saying the city is safe to return to. riots groups condemn the move and many refugees have won their appeal to state. denmark is in talks with rwanda to set up an asylum reception center, similar to what the u.k. has done. in december, his foreign ministration was convicted in jail for two months for order asylum seeking couples to be separated. there is a new political party to defend danish values. let's bring in our guests. both are joining us from copenhagen. mohamed salaam is the chairman of the residents association.

and then we have co-founder of an organization campaigning against the so-called get allows. a warm welcome to you both. thank you for joining us on "inside story." mohammed, let me start with you. you are a danish citizen. i want to ask you first if you ever thought something like this would happen in denmark. and how do you feel that people in denmark are being labeled western or nonwestern now? >> it's very difficult to see in my country, in denmark, we are making such laws that you are dividing people in two groups. one group, the people who live and are born in western countries, and those who are born in non-western countries. and the kids who are born in denmark, they are in the same

category that their parents were born, in non-muslim countries. it is terrible to think about. i could not imagine in my dreams, because i lived in denmark since i was seven. i cannot imagine it in my dream, that my country would make such kind of laws against a human being. it is more and more not a democracy, it is more and more looking like apartheid. >> let me also go ask you -- also ask you, houses impacting you, your family, and community? what kind of effect is that having? >> all of us who are living here, we are wondering where we are to go, or where we will be

settled. kids have to move schools. the home we are living in, have lived in for many decades, there are a lot of memories, our kids who were born and grew up here. it's terrible to think about. that someone wants to remove us from our homes. because they don't want us to live there, because of our color and because of our religion, and because they don't want to accept us as danish. it does not matter if we have lived here for decades. . it's terrible to think about. >> how many neighborhoods have been designated as ghetto areas so far? and from your perspective, how is this impacting the residence of those neighborhoods? there are many critics of these

laws, that are saying that this is tearing immigrant communities apart. >> there are 15 neighborhoods that are affected by the so-called ghetto development plans. in these neighborhoods, we see the development plans including demolition, and forced evacuation of residents and the sale of some of the public housing in these neighborhoods. >> and many rights groups are saying that immigrant communities are being unfairly singled out and that these policies are racist. from your perspective, are these policies racist? >> yes, i believe the -- they are. they are using racism and discrimination to attack public housing and attack tenant rights. motivation behind them is to work for the interest of investors, of private investors

who are gentrifying denmark. but racism is a big part of these policies. without the racist stigmatization's i've these neighborhoods, it would be impossible to get these laws passed in the parliament. >> mohammed, the government, their perspective, they are saying they aimed to transform areas with high rates of crime and unemployment. they also say that these measures, these new laws will help integrate foreigners. what is your response when you hear that? >> first of all, it is not correct what they are saying. because the crime is not so high as they are saying. almost in all of denmark, crime has gone down. we can see in our areas and other areas in denmark.

but this is certainly not correct. most of it we have seen for the last decade. it is six months to one year before we are going to have a general election in denmark. it is a competition between the parties and the politicians, that -- about who can say the worst things against the foreigners, the immigrants, the muslims. and those who can say that for -- the worst things. they get more seats in the parliament. and this is an issue going on for a decade now. all of those things we are saying this is not correct. >> i saw you nodding along to what some of what mohammed was saying. did you want to jump in, did you have a reaction? >> these laws, if they continue going without being stopped, they set a very dangerous precedent. this way, you can take away any

number of human rights, of basic rights, of danish society from certain groups by just using this criteria. for example, the non-western criteria that has played a big part in passing those law. this is very dangerous. and it worries me. and it creates a lot of fear and anxiety in the immigrant and brown working-class neighborhoods in denmark. >> the government is saying the current tenants in these neighborhoods, they are going to be offered alternative are -- alternative accommodation. but it will not have any control over its location or quality. that is what i understand from critics. . what is going to happen to those who refuse to leave? >> in danish law, you can contest an eviction and you can go to court and this is what some of the residents are doing. they go to court to fight against these evictions.

stating that this is a discriminatory law. until now, we have not had success in the danish courts. residents are taking this higher and higher up, hopefully going to the european human rights commission. >> there is another aspect to this story right now. the fact that the danish government decided to take in ukrainian refugees fleeing the war in ukraine. and that a majority of denmark's parliament voted to amend these ghetto laws, to make exceptions, to exempt ukrainians from these housing restrictions. what does that say to you? there are many critics that are saying this proves these housing laws are discriminatory. what do you say? >> this is one more proof to how the law is going to make the lawmakers making the law in denmark. it depends on where you come from, which religion you have, which color you have.

major proof under laws that -- which groups are you going to attack with your law. it was myself in the confluence that i came with this proposal, that maybe they can think about this law once again. then we can still live in our homes in the future. but they really changed the proposal of the law. this is major proof of how things are going on in denmark. this decade and last decade. >> i want to ask you about this development. i have read that residents in these areas that have been designated as ghettos, that some of them are suing the danish

government for racial discrimination. from your perspective, how strong of a case do they have, especially considering this exemption to the ghetto laws that was made for ukrainian refugees. >> we have heard from experts in discrimination and danish law, saying residents have a very strong case. so we are very hopeful. however, the danish courts don't have a good track record of challenging the parliament. we are hoping for the best, but we think that we might have to take the case higher up in order to challenge these laws. especially with what we have seen with ukrainian refugees in the way politicians have talked about them and some of the exemptions that have been given to them. i think it does strengthen the case because it shows very clearly that you get treated based on the color of your skin.

>> this ghetto law was and acted by a previous right-wing government. why do you think it is being enforced by the centerleft social democrats? are they trying to appeal to right-wing voters? are they trying to shore up support from voters they believe that they may lose to the right? why is it happening? >> social democratic party has not been social democratic for a long time. and it has been losing popularity. using racism to appeal to part of the population that has been a way that they used to regain popularity. because they are incapable of fighting for the danish welfare system. and stopping attacks from the right wing. instead, they are using discrimination and racism and xenophobia to gain popularity

and collect votes, basically. >> from your perspective, how much more hostile has denmark policies toward refugees and asylum seekers, and migrants, become in recent years? >> it's difficult to say, because we are going to have an election very soon. this competition i was talking about before, i believe it will come again. before i heard from a lot of families in denmark say that denmark, this is our country. where are we going to live, and our kids are going to grow up, and our generations are going to live here. but now i am hearing from a lot of youngsters saying -- wondering if it would be safer than to live, to grow up in denmark. a lot of people are wondering,

and now we have a politician that made this kind of law, what will be the next thing? a lot of families are afraid to think about -- or thinking to move to another place and leave denmark. >> let me ask you this, when it comes to these ghetto laws, what kind of criteria has to be met in order for somebody to be deemed of non-western origin now? >> click criteria is that both parents -- the criteria is that both parents are born. . in a non-western country. a person can be born in denmark, have danish citizenship, and still be categorized as so-called non-western. this shows that it is about ethnicity. it is not about citizenship. it is not even about culture or anything.

it is about ethnicity. >> do you know how much public support this ghetto law may have? from your perspective and what you have seen their, the majority of the population, do they support these actions or is the opinion split? >> i think it is difficult to tell what the public opinion about this matter is, because the media has not been talking about it. or has not been informing the public about it properly. when they talk about fixing these areas, you see a lot of public support because people think there are problems and they are fixing it. as soon as you mentioned that there is very good, cheap, nonprofit, public housing, being developed -- being demolished and people being evicted, then you see that people are critical of these methods. it is difficult to tell what is the public opinion without a

proper discussion and information about the issue. >> i know you mentioned a little bit of this earlier, but i just want to ask again in a different way, how worried are you about the future for you, for your family, for your children? what do you tell them when talking about all of this? >> we have these kind of talks a lot of times. i'm still telling my own kids and a lot of other youngsters that if we are living in denmark, then we are danish. this is our country. here, we are to live. in here, we have to work in the best of the country here. these kind of laws are coming,

and we are hearing the politicians. clearly, it is -- really, it is an attack on our hearts and we are tracked -- and they are trying to push us away. and like i say, you are not part of the society, you are not part of this country. it really attacks our hearts when all the time we are listening, reading, seeing all of this happening all the time. a lot of youngsters, and lotta families are wondering if it will be safe for them to live here, or for their kids in the coming generations. it can be difficult for denmark as a country to have people from -- to have people in the future

come to denmark if we are having this kind of racist laws in denmark. >> in these laws that were passed, there is also a requirement that children from the age of one have to spend at least 25 hours a week in child care in order to receive mandatory training in "danish values." do we know how many children are undergoing this? and also what kind of an impact is it having on them? this is having a traumatizing effect on the children? >> actually, we don't know how many children are being subjected to this. we don't have any numbers on this issue, because nobody is collecting any numbers. this is the thing with the so-called ghetto laws. it is a big experiment. but nobody is collecting any data. nobody is actually looking at what is happening. with the people who are affected by these laws. . and this is a big problem that

the government is intervening in people's lives without talking to them or looking at how this is affecting them. >> let me just ask you, my last question here, i just want to talk for a moment about the term "ghetto." this is a term that has severely negative connotations. the fact that the word" "ghetto was used in crafting these laws, how much does that stigmatize residents in these neighborhoods? >> yeah. i mean, denmark is the only country that we know of that uses the term ghetto officially, in official documents and laws fatima:. this is very problematic. it signals to minorities here in denmark which direction politics in denmark is going. the public discourse, we see it very clearly, going into a direction that is very worrying. creating a lot of fear and anxiety among minorities here in denmark.

the term is removed from the law now. since the last election. but still, the content of the law is the same. and the media still uses this word when talking about it. and the signal has already been sent out to people, what kind of treatment they can expect, what kind of stigmatization and discrimination they are going to face in this country, based on their ethnicity. >> we have run out of time. we will have to leave the discussion there. thank you to our guests. and thank you for watching. you can see the program any time by visiting our website, and for further discussion, go to our facebook page. you can also join the conversation on twitter. for me and the whole team here in doha, bye for now. ♪

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