A new law was proposed to ban the use of children as interpreters in Denmark. It is based on a political agreement which has been in place since 2022, between the former Social Democrat government and 8 other parties. The ban would take effect from July 2025.
 
The aim of the ban is to stop children acting as interpreters between Danish speaking professionals and authorities such as teachers, social workers, case workers and health workers, and family members who are not able to speak Danish themselves. Exceptions will be allowed when the communication only relates to the exchange of short, practical information.
 
The reason behind the ban is a wish to consider the rights of the child and make sure that no child is put in difficult situations as an interpreter. It is not clear how widespread the use of children as translators in Denmark is, but it has been found to be more common in families where the adults also do not speak English, and therefore among refugee families arriving from outside Europe (rather than families who come to Denmark for work or study).
 
The proposal has had broad support and will almost certainly be passed. Although generally in favour of it, some organisations - such as Refugees Welcome, the Danish Red Cross and Danish Regions - have voiced concerns: they note that the ban would not solve the root causes of this lack of language fluency among adults, and that it does not include any solutions on how to better access professional and adult translators instead of using children. They further add that the consequences of breaking the proposed ban are so far unclear. 

These organisations also note that the fee on translation introduced by government in 2018 has forced more children into the role of translators. A survey has shown that the current fee - for using translators after 3 years of residence - results in 42% of people choosing not to make an appointment with their doctor and 73% using a family member or friend as a translator. All three organisations continue to call for a banning of this fee.