út er komin ný skírsla gerð af einni stofnun bandaríknanna um ástandið á íslandi.

ég valdi nokkur “higligths” ég nennti ekki að þýða þetta.

en ég spyr:
hvernig viljum við bregðast við þessu?

kv.

…

this is Iceland in 2004

…

Societal discrimination against minorities and foreigners was a
problem. There were isolated reports of women trafficked to the
country.

…

In August, a Jewish visitor reported in an online newsmagazine that he
and a friend had been harassed by a group of young teenagers who
pointed at his yarmulke, gave a “heil Hitler” salute, and then briefly
blocked the visitors' exit from a parking lot and intimidated them. A
daily newspaper picked up the story, sparking over 30 online comments
from correspondents based in the country. Some of the comments were
themselves anti-Semitic or xenophobic in tone and content.

…

In November, the parliament cut all direct government funding for the
Icelandic Human Rights Center, effective at year's end. Funded
primarily by the Government, but operated as an NGO, the Center had
acted as the country's leading human rights watchdog, vetting
government legislation and reporting to international treaty
monitoring bodies as well as promoting human rights education and
research. Public figures, human rights advocates, and several of the
center's European partner institutes argued that having to apply to
the executive branch for grants henceforth will undermine the center's
independence.

…

Some mental health advocates criticized the Government for not
devoting sufficient attention and resources to the care of persons
with mental disabilities. Although the law safeguards their rights, a
large number of persons with mental disabilities remained on waiting
lists for housing, education, and employment programs. Advocates for
the mentally ill alleged that government funding for the care of the
mentally ill was generally inadequate and that the government-financed
health system funded too few hospital places for acute patients and
thus exacerbated a shortage of publicly funded preventative and
follow-up mental health care.

…

The term “newcomer” has taken on a negative connotation and was
increasingly applied to immigrants of color. Asian women in public at
night reportedly were sometimes taunted on the assumption that they
were prostitutes and minority children were teased for allegedly
having been “purchased on the Internet.”

…

In June, the publishers of a Reykjavik monthly newspaper recounted how
a private dance company refused to rent them a national costume (for a
planned cover shoot intended to depict the future of the country)
because the model was black. The company's spokesman offered the
explanation that his organization had objected to the newspaper's
proposed theme because, if anything, the country's future of Iceland
was yellow rather than black. The public reaction was overwhelmingly
critical of the dance company, and the Bishop of Iceland referred to
the matter in a speech before the Althingi urging tolerance.

The Government said it was reviewing the recommendations of a 2003
report by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance that
concluded that conditions for immigrants “may not be wholly
satisfactory.”

…


Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2004, Iceland,(2005) the
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
viewd on 29. des 2005 at: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41686.htm