Oct. 19th. 2010
Iceland and Racism. A lecture in an Enar NGO´S meeting in Reykjavik.
Mr. Chair and others at this meeting.
Introduction
I will in this lecture talk about the main actors in Icelandic society in the fight against racism and discrimination as I see it.
I remember old ladies, grand old ladies living in the south of Iceland who were afraid of foreigners. The reason in part at least that in the seventeen century raiders from Alsir kidnapped people living near the south coast burned houses and killed people. An old saga from this time tells about a heroic act of the farmers when they, many together killed a black troll who survived a ship wreck, probably the only survivor. This xenophobia towards foreigners reached its peak when the Icelandic government requested of the government of the United States that no black people would be in the army in Keflavik and this happened 70 years ago. The reason was that Icelandic authorities were afraid that, coloured bastards“that is people neither white nor black would be born and grow up in Iceland.
It was just after 1990, that people from all over the world began to move to Iceland. Up until then foreigners (at least visible foreigners) living here (temporary) were mostly a few basketball players usually one in each of the best teams – usually big men resembling the troll from the ship wreck, and they were much better than the other players. But if they were not good enough they were sent back home with the next plane as a faulty merchandise and things are still that way.
Multicultural society is therefore new for us. Perhaps 10 -15% of the population is now of foreign origin (has moved to Icland and their kids), people from European Union countries and also people from mainly Asia, the Philippines, and Thailand etc.
Small village
In most small villages around Iceland live goes rather smoothly. People are friendly towards each other. In my village where the proportion of those from abroad is rather high there is integration going on slowly but surely. In the schools the young students are remarkable. I don’t see the problems any more that we used to have where students called the new ones bad names. The fight in the schoolyard does not follow ethnic lines. But the main danger in my small will age is that people of foreign origin are all in low paid jobs. They don’t integrate into the administration, neither on the public sector nor in the companies. We all know the long time danger in this. This is generally the pattern in Iceland. People from abroad do not integrate into, higher“levels of society, they are not seen as medical doctors, as journalists, as politicians.
Obvious racism
There is though obvious racism in Iceland as we all know. We have a lot of examples of verbal abuse and also physical violence. The media has not grown up. Many directors of the media do not understand the necessity not to mention where people are from when criminal acts are reported. In a strange twist the state radio has, if the crime was particularly heinous, sometimes ended up by adding that the offenders were Icelandic. The subtext being that those crimes are generally only committed by foreigners. The subliminal propaganda of such presentation leaves the listener in no doubt that violent crime is a problem associated with foreigners even though the vast majority of such crime is committed by Icelanders.
Main actors!
But who are the main actors in the fight against racism and discrimination in Iceland? There are almost no organisations in Iceland that have a specific brief to fight against racism and discrimination. Most of the actors have general human rights on their agenda for example; The Icelandic Human Rights Centre. The purpose and aim of the Centre is to promote human rights. In their agenda they don’t mention the fight against racism and discrimination at all, although that noble task is of course well within its remit as the promoters of the European Convention of Human Rights. Many other organisations wishing to support human rights are members of the Human Rights Centre. These organisations are diverse, for example; The Icelandic Church which has the main task of promoting Christianity and Amnesty International whose main objective is to free prisoners of conscience or those persecuted for political believe. Then you have the Red Cross which is of course an important player in the general human rights field—woman right organisations and gender equality organisation and there are many other organisations, fourteen I think altogether.
We also used to have the International House in Reykjavik, The Multicultural Centre in Isafjordur and Intercultural Iceland. These are very important institutions in promoting multicultural society. ECRI, The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, the main body within the council of Europe in the fight against racism and discrimination, puts a particular emphasise on the type of work these organisations are engaged in, as a way to promote tolerance and reduce discrimination. We can also mention organisations that represent possibly vulnerable groups such as the Association of Muslims in Iceland which of course have fight against racism and discrimination thereof on their agenda.
I will not forget quite possibly the only association in Iceland which supports multicultural society by fighting against racism– Panorama Iceland. It is probably the only association in Iceland which has this struggle as its main task. Its promoter or head Akeem Cujo Oppong is also one of very few who write regularly in Icelandic newspapers about racism, he appears on TV with, I believe weekly interviews and discussion about racism and discrimination. Very few people write about Racism in the newspapers on a regular basis. Another person who does is Toshiki Toma a Japanese born priest in the Church of Iceland with the special task of being priest for immigrants. These two are no doubt some of the main individual actors in the fight against racism and discrimination in Iceland.
I believe that NGOs in Iceland are in great need of adequate funds. The Human Rights centre was funded directly by the government, now this is partly the case. In practice this means that this organisation has to apply for funds from the justice minister on an issue by issue basis. Not western thinking at all. The prominent International House in Reykjavik fought for its existence for a decade but has vanished lacking money from the municipal authorities which did not show great enthusiasm in supporting this organisation despite the fact that it has been praised by for example ECRI.
It is very important that Icelandic authorities ensure that Organisations active in the field of promoting and protecting human rights, including combating racism and racial discrimination, receive adequate public funds for their work and those funds are made available to Them in a manner that guarantees their independence and effectiveness.
The administration
Then I have to talk about the other side; the administration and the government. The fight against racism and discrimination does not have a high enough priority within the administration. There is no special office or department for immigrant issues in either the ministry of welfare or the ministry of the interior. In both ministries there are just few people with this huge task and they are not directors running a special department within the ministry, they consequently have little real power. These few people have to deal with all aspects of immigrant issues. It seems obvious that there is a real need for a special department to deal with issues of racism and discrimination. I think it is very important to give this fight a better status within the administration. There is an immigration council working on behalf of both ministries but it does not have a high profile either.
You can say the same thing about others areas within the administration. We have for example no ombudsman with the special task of fighting racism and discrimination. ECRI has strongly recommended that a special ombudsman should be in every country with this main task of fighting racism. The arguments are that multi task ombudsman and their staffs are never as vigilant in the fight against racism and discrimination as they should be if they are ombudsmen for human rights in general or even more general ombudsmen.
ECRI has strongly recommended that the Icelandic authorities establish a specialised Body to combat racism and racial discrimination at national level.
The constitution
ECRI has also encouraged the Icelandic authorities to strengthen the protection provided by the Icelandic Constitution against racism and racial discrimination.
It stresses the need for constitutions to enshrine the principle of equal treatment and the commitment of the State to promote equality as well as the right of individuals to be free from discrimination on grounds such as race, colour, language, religion, nationality or national or ethnic origin.
It is vital to mention this in the eve of Constitutional Assembly. This assembly is a body of people which has as its remit the rewriting of the Icelandic constitution.
No comprehensive law
I must mention that there is no comprehensive civil and administrative body of anti-discrimination legislation in Iceland covering the necessary aspects of law, from employment to education, housing, health, goods and services intended for the public and public places, exercise of economic activity and public services etc.
This is very important and has often been recommended by international human rights institutions. It is both important for the victims to know their rights and for the Judges to know how to judge.
Conclusion
My conclusion is this: We in Iceland are far from doing the best we can in the fight against racism and discrimination. Very few NGO´S are working directly in this fight. We have many human rights groups but they are very broadly based and they lack money and their independence is in question. The main players are Panorama Iceland with Akeem and the priest Toshiki Toma. Most NGO´S are too broadly based.
At the governmental level we need a better platform for this fight. This fight should have special departments within the ministries. We need a comprehensive civil and administrative body of anti discrimination legislation covering all fields of life, from employment to education, housing, health, goods and services intended for the public and public places, exercise of economic activity and public services.
We should have politicians who understand the importance for Icelandic society to make it free of racial prejudices and discrimination. We also need a special ombudsman in this field as ECRI has recommended. It does not have to be a big institution, just two or three people to begin with.
We need sharper NGO´S and we need a better administration which listens to the NGO´s and international organisations such as ECRI.
There are signs of a general rise in racist violence in Europe. “In the last year there has been a hardening of the immigration debate and a rise in xenophobic and intolerant attitudes in general, including virulent verbal attacks and violent incidents“.
In times of economic crises we have to be vigilant. It is a turbulent time for vulnerable groups. – In particular the rise in unemployment and cuts to social services affects such groups.
Therefore it is vital to effectively prevent and combat racism, intolerance and xenophobia, and to fill the legal gaps that still exist. That should be the challenge for the Icelandic authorities.
It is a shame that 29 out of 47 states in Europe have not ratified Protocol 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits discrimination in general. Iceland is among those who have not yet ratified the protocol.
I would like to end by saying that it is imperative that NGO‘S be vigilant and work together in strengthening international connections. I thank the conference and all those present today for the opportunity of airing these issues.
(The author is a member of ECRI appointed by the Icelandic government)
Baldur Kristjánsson is a Th. M from Harvard University