The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, the CEDAW committee, just published its concluding observations on the Icelandic state’s gender equality work.
Iceland is a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The state signed the CEDAW convention in Copenhagen in 1980, and Althingi, the Icelandic Parliament, ratified the convention in 1985. Today, 189 states are signatories to the convention.
The committee met with representatives from the Icelandic state earlier this year, interrogating them on their efforts to fulfill the CEDAW convention. Earlier this year, the Icelandic Women’s Rights Association submitted a shadow report to the committee in cooperation with the Icelandic Human Rights Centre.
The CEDAW committee just released its concluding observations following this meeting, with various recommendations. The two must urgent recommendations are:
- Adopt without delay a national plan against sexual and domestic violence that takes into account the specific needs and vulnerabilities of migrant women and women with disabilities and provide adequate human and financial support to expand to all police districts the Reykjayvik Metropolitan Police intersectional approach to combat domestic violence.
- Take prompt targeted measures, including temporary special measures, with clear timeframes in line with article 4, paragraph 1, of the Convention and the Committee’s General Recommendation No. 25 (2004) on temporary special measures, to rapidly increase women’s representation in the police force,on the Supreme Court and in decision-making positions in the foreign service (ambassadors).
