Iceland is generally considered to be one of the leading countries in the world in regard to the human rights enjoyed by its citizens.
Elections are free and fair, security forces report to civilian authorities, there is no state violence, and human rights groups are allowed to operate without restriction.
[1] In a 2012 interview, a member of the UN Human Rights Committee singled out two principal human-rights problems in Iceland: “inequality between women and men...especially in the labour market” and the “sexual abuse of children.”[2] Althing ombudsman is elected by parliament.
[1] Iceland's 2008 banking crisis, however, affected certain freedoms, in the view of economists Jon Danielsson and Ragnar Arnason.
They noted in a November 2011 article that “Icelandic firms seeking to invest abroad need rarely-granted permission from the Central Bank.
Moreover, the number of women seeking medical help and counselling in the wake of domestic incidents significantly exceeds the number actually reporting such incidents, and some observers explain this by pointing to the infrequency of actual convictions and the lenient sentences for those convicted.
[1] Icelandic law defines sexual harassment very broadly, essentially including any activity that is perceived as disrespectful.
[1] Icelanders have the right to determine for themselves how many children they will have; they enjoy free access to contraceptives as well as to prenatal, obstetric, and postpartum care.
It also helpfully addresses a number of practical violations of human rights that foreign women may experience in their own lives.
The IHRC does note that it has recently been made easier for transgender people to change their names and gender officially.
The IHRC has also criticized Iceland for its failure to sign or ratify the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
[1] Under Icelandic law, workers can form and join labour unions, which are independent of the government and of political parties.
“There are stories of women arriving in the country to work in a strip club having their passports and return tickets taken from them and being forced to work off their debt before being able to leave the club,” reports the IHRC, which has noted that it, along with the Icelandic women's movement, had long been advocating for legislation that would provide for “victim and witness protection” to people involved in human trafficking.
[5] It is against the law in Iceland to employ persons under 16 “in factories, on ships, or in other places that are hazardous or require hard labour,” although children of 14 or 15 “may work part time or during school vacations in light, nonhazardous jobs.” The Administration of Occupational Safety and Health (AOSH) enforces these regulations.
[1][dubious – discuss] Iceland has been criticized for decades by human rights organizations over its extensive use of solitary confinement.
[8] The Icelandic police, who are under civilian authority, “may make arrests under a number of circumstances: when they believe a prosecutable offense has been committed, when they see a need to prevent further offenses or destruction of evidence, when they need to protect a suspect, or when a person refuses to obey police orders to move.
It is up to the individual judge to decide whether to keep a suspect in custody during a crime investigation or to grant release pending trial.
Although trials are usually open to the public, they may be held behind closed doors at the request of the defendant or in cases involving minors.