Digital Data as a Measure of Credibility in the Danish Asylum System
Author
Heuser, Kathrine Charlotte
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2023
Abstract
This thesis examines how the growing use of digital data and device extraction in Denmark’s asylum procedures affects credibility assessments. Focusing on the Danish Immigration Service’s expanded powers following a 2017 amendment to the Alien Act, it uses a qualitative case study based on three interviews (a Danish Refugee Council legal advisor and two caseworkers at the Immigration Service), complemented by NGO reports and academic literature. Through thematic analysis and a framework informed by digital governmentality and Critical Refugee Studies, the study explores how external, supposedly objective digital traces are weighed against applicants’ own accounts. The findings indicate that reliance on decontextualized online data can obscure the circumstances that shape digital behavior, allowing digital records to legitimize or delegitimize applicants’ statements and reinforcing unequal power relations in interviews and decisions. These dynamics may reproduce asylum seekers as passive subjects and encourage procedural formalism in which applicants feel compelled to tailor their narratives to perceived credibility criteria. The study contributes to debates on the digitalization of migration management by highlighting potential pitfalls for fairness and voice in the Danish asylum system.
Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan øget brug af digitale data og dataudtræk fra personlige enheder i den danske asylprocedure påvirker troværdighedsvurderinger. Med fokus på Udlændingestyrelsens udvidede adgang til dataudtræk efter en lovændring i 2017 gennemføres et kvalitativt casestudie baseret på tre interviews (en juridisk rådgiver fra Dansk Flygtningehjælp og to sagsbehandlere i Udlændingestyrelsen), suppleret af rapporter fra NGO’er og forskningslitteratur. Gennem tematisk analyse og et teoretisk afsæt i digital governmentality og Critical Refugee Studies belyser studiet, hvordan eksterne, tilsyneladende objektive digitale spor vægtes op imod ansøgeres egne fortællinger. Resultaterne indikerer, at tillid til dekontekstualiserede online-data kan overskygge de forhold, der former digital adfærd, så digitale fund kan legitimere eller underkende ansøgeres udsagn og forstærke ulige magtrelationer i interviews og afgørelser. Disse dynamikker kan reproducere asylansøgere som passive og fremme proceduremæssig formalisme, hvor ansøgere forventes at tilpasse deres fortælling til opfattede troværdighedskriterier. Specialet bidrager til debatten om digitalisering i migrationsforvaltning ved at pege på potentielle faldgruber for retfærdighed og for, at asylansøgeres stemmer høres i det danske asylsystem.
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