CMNT_TITLE

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the following matters raised in its previous direct request.

Article 1(1) and Article 2 of the Convention.  In its earlier comments, the Committee noted that, under section 198 of the Penal Code, a person able to work may in certain cases of habitual idleness by his own fault be directed by the police to employment and later punished for vagrancy. Under section 199, a person living in idleness in such circumstances that there is reason to assume that he does not seek to maintain himself by lawful means may be instructed by the police to try to find lawful employment within a specified reasonable period and, under the menace of penal sanctions, directed to such employment. The Committee noted the Government's indication in its report received in October 1998 that, though sections 198 and 199 of the Danish Penal Code were still in force, it was expected that a Bill to abolish them would be proposed in the near future. Sections 198 and 199 were said to be no longer applied in actual practice, and the Chief of Police had reported that there had been no notifications or decisions in 1996 and 1997. The Committee trusts that the necessary measures will be taken by the Government in the very near future in order to repeal sections 198 and 199 of the Danish Penal Code and requests information on any progress made in this regard.