The Government provides first asylum and provided it to approximately 2,300 persons in the first 6 months of 1999, and to approximately 5,700 persons in 1998. There were no reports of the forced expulsion of refugees to a country where they feared persecution or of those having a valid claim to refugee status. The law provides citizens with the right to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercise this right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal suffrage. Greenlanders and Faroese are Danish citizens with the same rights as those in the rest of the Kingdom. Each territory elects two representatives to the Folketing.
Women are active in government and politics at both the local and national levels.
Government officials are cooperative and responsive to their views. Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Disability, Language, or Social Status The Government's operations and extensive public services do not discriminate on the basis of any of these factors. The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, and the Government enforces it effectively. Discrimination on the basis of race is covered by two laws, which prohibit racial slander and denial of access to public places on the basis of race. The rights of indigenous people are protected carefully.