Danish committee seeks review of time limits on official failure claims

Denmark’s unanimous Social Affairs Committee wants the government to examine whether time limits can be removed in cases involving failures by authorities towards children, DR reports. The rules can prevent people who discover such failures years later from seeking compensation or having the harm recognised as a violation.

The committee’s report calls for the government to consider expanding an existing exception to the statute of limitations. Enhedslisten social affairs spokesperson Victoria Velasquez said the committee had united behind a review aimed at strengthening legal protections for children and young people affected by official failures.

Klaus Josefsen, an external lecturer in administrative law who has followed adoption issues for several years, called the development “a tribute to justice” and an important step for the legal rights of international adoptees. A change could stop compensation claims from being rejected as time-barred, including claims against the Danish state over alleged failures in its oversight, he said.

The debate follows a widespread adoption scandal that raised questions about official responsibility in cases where children were put up for adoption without their biological parents’ consent or adoption documents were systematically falsified. Private, state-accredited Danish agencies arranged international adoptions under state supervision.

Adoptees from several countries have brought cases against the Danish state in recent years, alleging violations of their human rights and failures by Danish authorities to protect their rights during the adoption process. Several cases have been dismissed because they were considered time-barred.

The Ministry of Justice and other relevant ministries must examine the possibility of broadening an exception in the limitation law that applies to people under 18. They must also consider how private care facilities and other private actors could be required to preserve documents, giving people better access to their own histories. The review is due by spring 2027, after which the government must invite the committee to further discussions. No change to the law has yet been agreed.

International adoptions to Denmark have been halted indefinitely following severe criticism of the country’s only adoption agency, DIA, which has since closed. An independent review of parts of the adoption system is under way.