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A/HRC/28/59/Add.1 rendered 100 decisions, including overturning 39 administrative decisions in favour of the claimants.12 17. In addition, the Complaints Committee on Transactions with Financial Firms and the Insurance Complaints Committee under the Financial Supervisory Authority deal with disputes between consumers and banks, credit institutions and insurance companies. Private individuals pay a fee of ISK 5,000 or ISK 6,000, respectively, when submitting a complaint to those committees. The fee is reimbursed if the complaint is wholly or partly accepted.13 Iceland’s international human rights commitments C. 18. In 2012, during its universal periodic review by the Human Rights Council, Iceland undertook several commitments to strengthen its human rights protection system, including considering the ratification of the Optional Protocols to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment and actively examining the possibility of establishing a national human rights institution compliant with the Paris Principles (see A/HRC/19/13/Add.1, paras. 4, 5, and 16). 19. In early 2013, the Ministry of the Interior drafted a National Action Plan on Human Rights, which included the establishment of a human rights institution. However, to date, the plan has not yet been submitted to the Parliament. Iceland thus remains one of the few European countries that does not have an independent human rights institution, although international and regional human rights mechanisms have recommended the establishment of such a body for a number of years.14 The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe recently highlighted the important role that national human rights institutions and other human rights protection bodies could play in the context of economic crises.15 The time has come to fill that gap. Based on their current legal mandates, neither the Althing Ombudsman nor the Ombudsman for Children can fulfil the role of a national human rights institution. While the Icelandic Human Rights Centre carries out many activities similar to those of human rights institutions in other countries, it lacks the required legal status and adequate and stable funding to fully carry out such a task. III. Iceland’s response to the banking crisis: adjustment with a more human face A. The banking collapse 20. The majority of Iceland’s banks were privatized between 1991 and 2004, and a floating exchange rate was introduced. Icelandic banks expanded rapidly during the 2000s owing to a combination of uncontrolled risk taking, a strong Icelandic currency exchange rate and very favourable conditions on international financial markets, which enabled them 12 13 14 15 8 The decisions taken by those committees are available from www.velferdarraduneyti.is/kaerunefndir/. See http://en.fme.is/supervision/consumer-affairs/. See CAT/C/ISL/CO/3, para. 6; CEDAW/C/ICE/CO/6, para. 239; CERD/C/ISL/CO/19-20, para. 13; CCPR/C/ISL/CO/5, para. 5; E/C.12/ISL/CO/4, para. 7; A/HRC/26/39/Add.1, para. 100; Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, CommDH(2005)10, paras. 24–29 and 62. Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Safeguarding human rights, (see note 3 ), pp. 12, 54–55.

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Report of the Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, on his mission to Iceland (8–15 December 2014)

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Country

Iceland

Rights Involved

Right to adequate housing
Right to education
Right to health
Right to social security
Right to work
Rights of the child
Rights of women and girls

Issue

Accountability
Extraterritorial obligations
Non-discrimination
Non-retrogression
Participation
Progressive realization
Resource allocation
Resource expenditure
Resource generation

Special Procedure

Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights

Date: Mar 20, 2015

Summary: The Independent Expert reports on the mission to Iceland (8–15 December 2014), and assesses the extent to which Iceland has fulfilled its obligations to protect economic, social and cultural rights in the aftermath of its recent banking crisis. Under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which Iceland has been a party since 1979, Iceland is obliged to progressively realize ESCR to the maximum available resources. While the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has acknowledged that a financial crisis may require economic adjustments, it reminded the Government in November 2012 that such adjustments should: (a) be of a temporary nature; (b) be necessary and proportionate; (c) not be discriminatory and comprise all possible measures, including tax measures, to support social transfers to mitigate inequalities and to ensure that the rights of the disadvantaged and marginalized individuals and groups are not disproportionally affected; and (d) identify a social protection floor and the minimum core content of rights, and ensure the protection of those rights at all times.

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A:HRC:28:59:Add.1.pdf
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Report of the Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, on his mission to Iceland (8–15 December 2014)

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