Iceland review - 2015, Page 64

62 ICELAND REVIEW
turning point in the debate, both in Iceland
and around the world, as people in increas-
ing numbers began to see the refugee crisis
as a humanitarian crisis.
POLITICAL ACTION
On September 1, the Government of
Iceland established a committee consisting
of five ministers to discuss the problem
and evaluate how Iceland can respond to
the refugee crisis and especially the con-
flict in Syria. Two-and-a-half weeks later,
September 19, the government announced
it was recommending to parliament that
ISK 2 billion (USD 15.7 million) from the
budget surplus be provided for support to
refugees and asylum seekers in the course
of the next 15 months. The amount will
be used to fund UN agencies working with
refugees abroad, the Healthcare on Wheels
project in Lebanon run by the Icelandic
Red Cross, process refugee and asylum
seeker arrivals in Iceland, strengthen meas-
ures that can change and expedite the
processing of asylum applications, as well
as respond to the increase in their numbers.
According to UNHCR data, Iceland’s
financial contribution will put it in second
place among all countries (per capita), after
Kuwait, that specifically support the oper-
ations of the UNHCR in the areas around
Syria, as stated in a Foreign Ministry press
release.
Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð
Gunnlaugsson said he expected that the
number of refugees from camps in coun-
tries bordering Syria, as well as asylum
seekers granted protection in Iceland,
would total more than 100 this year. As of
mid-September, 25 of Iceland’s 74 munici-
palities had expressed interest in resettling
refugees in their locality and the first group
of refugees is now expected to arrive in
Iceland in early December from refugee
camps in Lebanon.
Following the announcement, on
September 21, a formal letter was sent to
UNHCR informing the agency of Iceland’s
willingness to receive refugees from war-
torn areas. Head of the refugee committee
Stefán Þór Björnsson told RÚV that the
agency will then send Iceland the case files
or other documents of individuals to be
considered. The idea is to produce a video,
with the help of the Red Cross and Syrian
refugees already resettled in Iceland, intro-
ducing the living conditions as well as the
pros and cons of living in the country, to
be shown to refugees being considered for
resettlement in Iceland.
On September 22, EU interior minis-
ters approved a controversial plan to relo-
cate 120,000 refugees across the continent
through mandatory quotas over the next
two years. Eygló had previously said that
Iceland will do its bit to help with the crisis
but will do so on its own terms and not part
of any compulsory quotas.
Support for increasing Iceland’s refugee
intake exists across parties as was evident
in the opening speeches of party lead-
ers at Alþingi, the Icelandic parliament,
at the beginning of the autumn session
on September 8. Some opposition party
members would have liked a higher intake,
though, emphasizing that Iceland is one of
the richest countries in the world. Twenty-
two members of parliament from all parties
in the opposition had earlier introduced a
parliamentary resolution suggesting that
500 refugees be resettled in Iceland over
the next two years, including at least 100
in 2015.
Bryndís was happy about the govern-
ment’s announced intake. “Our aim was
very clear: to increase the number [from 50
over two years] so we can’t be anything but
happy,” Bryndís told Iceland Review. “But
we need to guarantee three-digit numbers.
Hopefully this can be a stepping stone and
we will continue to take in larger numbers
of people in the future.”
BUILDING ON PAST EXPERIENCE
During the last few weeks, people in
support of resettling refugees in Iceland
have pointed to the volcanic eruption in
Vestmannaeyjar in 1973 when mainland
Iceland received 4,000 ‘refugees’ over-
night, reasoning that the same would
be possible today. When it comes to
quota refugees, Iceland has been reset-
tling small numbers in cooperation with
UNHCR since 1956, when 52 people
from Hungary arrived. In 1959, 32 ref-
ugees from Yugoslavia were resettled in
Iceland, in 1979, 34 from Vietnam, and in
1982, 26 from Poland. In 1990-1991, 60
more came from Vietnam. In recent years
and decades refugees from Afghanistan,
Cameroon, Colombia, Palestine, the for-
mer Yugoslavia, Uganda, Zimbabwe and
Syria have been resettled in Iceland. All
in all, Iceland has resettled 549 refu-
gees since 1956. Iceland has focused on
resettling single mothers with children,
individuals with specific medical needs,
and individuals from the LGBTQI com-
munity—groups of people which Iceland
can support and which are not stigma-
tized as they might be in some other
countries. Over the years, UNHCR has
urged Iceland to increase its intake.
Bergsteinn Jónsson, executive direc-
tor at UNICEF Iceland, and others,
have stressed the importance of being
well-prepared as a nation to receive refu-
gees, such as ensuring that the necessary
support network is in place and that there
are enough psychologists and interpreters
to work with them.
RECORD NUMBER OF ASYLUM
APPLICATIONS
As part of the government’s recent
announcement, it stated that work would
be done to speed up the asylum appli-
cation process for individuals seeking
REFUGEES