Nefnd Sþ um afnám alls kynþáttamisréttis

Although the number of non-citizens and persons of immigrant origin residing in Iceland is small by European standards, recent years have seen a significant increase in foreigners moving to the country. The Icelandic population has changed from a largely homogeneous and mono-cultural one to a multicultural one in little more than a decade. On 1 January 2008, there were 21,434 foreign nationals resident in the country, representing about 6.8% of the total population of 313,376. By comparison, the proportions in 1996 and 2000 were 1.9% and 3.1%, respectively.

In light of the CERD Committee’s review of Iceland’s Combined Seventeenth and Eighteenth Periodic Reports on the Implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which will be considered at the 67rt Session in Geneva, on 10 and 11 August 2005, the Icelandic Human Rights Center has undertaken to provide the following insights regarding Iceland’s implementation of the Convention, in co-operation with Icelandic NGOs and human rights experts.