COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS BEGINS REVIEW OF REPORT OF ICELAND ON COMPLIANCE WITH COVENANT

CESCR
30th session
13 May 2003




The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights today started its review of a third periodic report from Iceland by hearing a Government delegation say that the rights set forth in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights were being widely implemented in Iceland.
Introducing her country's report, Bjorg Thorarensen, Professor of Constitutional Law, Faculty of Law, University of Iceland, said that the influence of international human rights conventions had increased significantly within the Icelandic legal system and in the application of Icelandic laws. Judgements by the Supreme Court and other courts were referring increasingly to international human rights conventions when applying and interpreting Icelandic laws.
Ms. Thorarensen said that three recent judgements by the Supreme Court had acknowledged that rights protected by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had been violated; and all those judgements had entailed swift reaction from the legislator and the authorities. Among the judgements, legislation that reduced social security benefits was deemed unconstitutional; and the judgement called for changes in legislation to increase social security benefits.
Also introducing the report were Hanna Sigridur Gunnsteinsdottir, Legal Advisor at the Ministry of Social Affairs; and Vilborg Hauksdottir, Head of Division, Department of Legal Affairs, Ministry of Health and Social Security.
The delegation of Iceland was also composed of Ingibjorg Davidsdottir, First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Iceland in Geneva.
During the meeting, Committee Experts asked the delegation why only part of the rights in the International Covenant were mentioned in the Constitution; if the country had attained the target of 0.7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to be devoted to overseas assistance for development; about the policies of affirmative action aimed at gender equality; if ultra-nationalist groups had emerged with the arrival of foreign workers in the country; the extent of xenophobia in the country; the application of the International Covenant by courts; and the special training provided to the judges.
As one of the 146 States parties to the International Covenant, Iceland is obligated to submit periodic reports to the Committee on the activities aimed at promoting and protecting the economic, social and cultural rights of its population in compliance with the provisions of the treaty.
When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 14 May, it will continue its consideration of the report of Iceland.

Third Periodic Report of Iceland
The report (E/1994/104/Add.25) relates information on the most important laws and practices in the field of economic, social and cultural rights in Iceland. It also provides explanations on the Committee's conclusions and recommendations on Iceland's previous periodic report. The report notes that extensive amendments were made on the human rights provisions of the Icelandic Constitution in 1995. The amendments reflect to a large extent the provisions of international conventions in the field of economic, social and cultural rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Several changes were made to provisions concerning economic, social and cultural rights in the Constitution and some new rights were added.
According to the report, the new human rights provisions in the Constitution have widened the constitutional protection of various rights guaranteed in international human rights conventions. Despite the fact that these conventions do not have the direct force of law within the Icelandic legal system, they have now been brought under the protection of the Constitution as a result of recent court practice which has interpreted constitutional provisions in the light of international obligations.
The report added that owing to the amendments to the Constitution and the practice of the courts, a lively debate has begun and public awareness of human rights in Icelandic society has increased greatly. The people are better informed of their rights than ever before, and know that these rights are enforceable through the Icelandic legal system and international monitoring bodies.
Icelandic law is based on the principle that all persons are equal before the law, irrespective of their sex, the report further notes. The general principle of equality is enshrined in article 65 of the Constitution, and a special Gender Equality Act has been in force in the country since 1976. The Act is an important instrument for supporting work in the field of gender equality and protecting social equality, but it has also long been recognized that work aimed at achieving equality involves changing attitudes towards traditional sexual roles and images.

Presentation of Icelandic Report
BJORG THORARENSEN, Professor of Constitutional Law, Faculty of Law, University of Iceland, said that in recent years, the influence of international human rights conventions had increased significantly within the Icelandic legal system and the application of Icelandic law. That had been manifested in various judgements of the Supreme Court and other courts, which referred increasingly to international human rights conventions when applying and interpreting Icelandic law. That development might be directly attributed to the comprehensive amendments made on the human rights chapter of the Constitution in 1995, which were to a large extent based on international human rights conventions, including the International Covenant.
Ms. Thorarensen said that three recent judgements by the Supreme Court had acknowledged that rights protected by the Covenant had been violated. All those judgements had entailed swift reaction from the legislator and the authorities. Among the judgements, legislation that reduced social security benefits was deemed unconstitutional; and the judgement called for changes in legislation to increase the social security benefits.
The new human rights provisions in the Constitution had widened the constitutional protection of various rights guaranteed in the international human rights conventions, Ms. Thorarensen went on to say. Despite the fact that those conventions did not have direct force of law within the Icelandic legal system, various legal provisions confirmed that principle, and had now been brought under the dimension of constitutional protection. A clear example of that was the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which had been invoked in a recent judgement of the Supreme Court, in conjunction with article 65 of the Constitution, as providing for substantive social rights.
Ms. Thorarensen further said that in 2001, her country was among the first countries to ratify three new protocols to United Nations human rights conventions: the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; and two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
HANNA SIGRIDUR GUNNSTEINSDOTTIR, Legal Advisor, Ministry of Social Affairs of Iceland, gave an overview of new legislation under the Ministry of Social Affairs since October 2001. In May 2002, a new draft law had been submitted to the country's parliament on child protection, which reviewed and added structural changes in the old law. According to the new law, child protection committees had to take court action against a parent who they thought should be deprived of custody instead of taking the decision by themselves, Ms. Gunnsteinsdottir said. The parents had to appeal to district courts instead of a special administrative council. Some other rulings and individual decisions by the child protection committee, for instance, on monitoring of the home or that the child might not be taken out of the country, could be appealed to a special protection appeals board. The main purpose of those changes was to ensure better procedural safeguards and fair trial.
Ms. Gunnsteinsdottir said that the Act on Foreign Nationals' Right to Work was reviewed because of the changes on the Icelandic labour market which called for amendments of the old Act. The demand for a foreign work force had increased due to the tensions in the labour market during the second half of the 1990s. In addition, changes had been noticed after foreign workers started staying for longer periods and many of them brought their family members with them. For that reason a change became necessary.
A work permit might not be granted to a foreign national who was living in the country without a residence permit or had been ordered to leave Iceland, Ms. Gunnsteinsdottir went on to say. Work permits conferred the right to work in Iceland under the laws and regulations applying to the Icelandic labour market. According to the new conditions, the employer should take out health insurance for the foreign employee so that he or she would enjoy similar coverage under the social security act.
Ms. Gunnsteinsdottir said that her Government was concerned about the fact that there were still differences in the wages of women and men for the same job of equal value by the same employer which could not be explained by objective reasons. The Gender Equality Council had put special emphasis on gathering information to understand and eliminate the gender wage-gap.
VILBORG HAUKSDOTTIR, Head of Division, Department of Legal Affairs of the Ministry of Health and Social Security of Iceland, said that the amendment to the Social Security Act had many administrational changes that mainly concerned the State Security Institute and the calculation of benefits from the national pension scheme. The amendment had also increased by 5.5 per cent interest payment on top of benefits that were not paid by the Institute at the right time. The amendment had also increased the rights of university students and persons in vocational training to be insured by occupational injury insurance.

Discussion
Following the introduction of the report, a Committee Expert noted, among other things, that Iceland was a Protestant country; 60 per cent of its economy was based on fishing activities; and its earnings came from the export of fish products. The delegation was asked about the nationality of foreigners in Iceland and the kind of work they were allowed to perform.
Another Expert asked about the position of the Government of Iceland on the draft Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, whose text was being drafted by a Working Group of the Commission on Human Rights.
An Expert asked about the status of international conventions, including the International Covenant, within domestic law.
Reacting, the delegation said that foreign nationals coming to Iceland included Poles and persons from Asian countries. Those coming from Nordic countries were not considered as foreigners. Foreigner workers were concentrated in projects concerning fish and construction. In 2000, 2,000 work permits were issued.
International conventions were not directly applicable into the domestic law, the delegation said. Only after they were incorporated by law did international treaties enter into force. The basic rights guaranteed in the constitutional provisions should be interpreted in light of the international conventions to which Iceland was a party.
Committee Experts went on to raise further questions on why only part of the rights in the International Covenant were mentioned in the Constitution; if the country had attained the target of 0.7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) devoted to international development; if maternity leave was extensive as compared to other countries; about the policies of affirmative action aimed at gender equality; if ultra-nationalist groups had emerged with the arrival of foreigners in the country; the extent of xenophobia in the country; and the application of the Covenant by courts and the special training provided to the judges.
Responding, the delegation said that judges and lawyers had a good knowledge of the provisions of the International Covenant in addition to their general legal knowledge in their respective fields.
Racism and xenophobia so far were not major problems in Iceland, the delegation said. However, the authorities were aware that they should be prepared for this problem which might be prompted by the growing number of foreigners in the country. A young person who had made degrading expressions about people of African origin had been indicted and punished; and the courts did not accept the validity of the right to freedom of opinion invoked by that individual.
The Government of Iceland was promoting special programmes on tolerance in collaboration with local authorities, the delegation said. Recently, cultural centres had been established by the municipality of Reykjavik. The centre promoted multicultural values and provided legal advisory services to foreigners.
On the issue of maternity-paternity leave, the delegation said that more fathers were using their paternity leave, which was one month and non-transferable to the wife. The Act on Maternity/Paternity Leave and Parental Leave had affected the gender-determined labour market situation. The wage gap and the low representation of women at the top levels of business management was partly due to their responsibilities for family and children. The Act should result in creating a more equal situation. The Act on Equal Status and Equal Rights of Women and Men contained provisions on reconciling family and occupational responsibilities. No research had been made on the use of flexible working hours.
Iceland did not yet reach the target GDP percentage of 0.7 contribution for overseas development assistance, the delegation said, adding that its present development assistance remained at 0.16 per cent.
Committee Experts continued to raise a number of questions on minimum wage; wage gaps between men and women; the number of accidents in the workplace; the rate of poverty and the number of persons affected by it; vocational training; assistance to single parents; why Iceland did not ratify International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention no. 116 on social policies on equality; and qualifications of medical personnel.



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