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Incorporating the CRC in Iceland
- Edited by Ursula Kilkelly, Laura Lundy, Bronagh Byrne
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- Book:
- Incorporating the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into National Law
- Published by:
- Intersentia
- Published online:
- 10 December 2021
- Print publication:
- 25 June 2021, pp 281-302
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
Iceland is a democratic republic with a parliamentary government. The Constitution dates back to 1944, when the country gained full independence from Denmark. Iceland has strong historical, cultural and social ties to the Nordic countries and, in line with the principles of the Nordic welfare model, it actively works towards acknowledging and safeguarding human rights at the international, regional and domestic levels.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (hereinafter CRC or ‘the Convention’) was ratified in 1992. The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was incorporated into domestic law in 1994 and in 1995 the Constitution’s chapter on human rights was revised with the aim of ensuring conformity with established international obligations. The CRC was then directly incorporated into domestic law in 2013.
This chapter will provide an insight into the legal status of the CRC in Iceland and the process of full implementation of the Convention. It begins with an outline of the political system in Iceland and the development of human rights protection. This is followed by an analysis of the legal status of the CRC detailing the process from signing to full incorporation and beyond. Finally, the chapter will touch on future directions.
COUNTRY OVERVIEW
THE POLITICAL SYSTEM IN ICELAND
Iceland had a long history of colonial rule under Norway and later the Kingdom of Denmark, but the turn of the twentieth century gave strength to Iceland’s campaign for independence. In 1874, Denmark presented Iceland with a separate Constitution concerning the special affairs of Iceland, thus giving the country the status of a constitutional monarchy under the King of Denmark. Amendments in 1904 established home rule and an Icelandic government.
In 1918, Iceland was granted sovereignty and in 1944, it broke offthe union with Denmark and established a separate republic. At the same time, Iceland adopted the Constitution of the Republic of Iceland, No 33/1944, which is still in force with later amendments. The Constitution established Iceland as a parliamentary republic. The country is a member of the Council of Europe and has ratified the ECHR and most of its protocols, thus undertaking to comply with the judgments issued by the European Court of Human Rights. Iceland has also ratified a number of the Council of Europe’s other human rights treaties.
Iceland
- from THE REGULATORY APPROACH
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- By Hrefna Friðriksdóttir, University of Iceland, Iceland
- Edited by Jens M. Scherpe, Claire Fenton-Glynn, Terry Kaan
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- Book:
- Eastern and Western Perspectives on Surrogacy
- Published by:
- Intersentia
- Published online:
- 26 June 2019
- Print publication:
- 01 May 2019, pp 259-278
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Summary
GENERAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK
BAN ON SURROGACY IN ICELAND
Popular Icelandic folklore has numerous stories of women bearing children and giving them to others to raise, undoubtedly for different reasons and under various circumstances. The emergence and development of the science of human biology, reproduction and genetics has steadily increased the focus on how and to what extent reproductive technologies should be used to help persons desiring to create a family.
The use of artificial technologies in Iceland has been growing steadily for the last decades. Though a general legal framework was lacking, procedures using artificial insemination started in 1980 and in vitro fertilisation in 1991. The Act on Children from 1992 incorporated articles on paternity for children born through the use of artificial fertilisation. In 1996 Iceland passed the Act no. 55/1997 on Artificial Fertilisation and use of Human Gametes and Embryos for Stem-Cell Research. This Act sets out certain criteria for the use of different reproductive technologies, for example opened up the possibility of egg donation. The Act also marks the first formal discussion on whether or not to allow for the use of surrogacy in Iceland.
According to Art. 5 of the Act on Artificial Fertilisation, surrogacy is prohibited in Iceland. The Act defines surrogacy as ‘artificial fertilisation performed on a woman who intends to carry a child for another woman, and has agreed before the pregnancy to give up the child immediately after the birth.’ The preparatory comments on the issue of surrogacy were brief, first and foremost underlining that various ethical issues surround the question of allowing surrogacy. The preparatory comments specifically mention the issue of the maternity of the child, particularly after the use of egg donation, and emphasise the mater semper certa est (mater est) principle as the most widely acknowledged. The minority of the Parliamentary Standing Committee dealing with the Bill in 1995 issued a separate opinion agreeing with the majority on the ban on surrogacy while emphasising that surrogacy raised very many ethical and legal questions and particularly stated the view that commercial surrogacy was the worst form of female repression possible.
three - Nordic family law: new framework – new fatherhoods
- Edited by Guðný Björk Eydal, Tine Rostgaard, Stockholms universitet Institutionen för socialt arbete
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- Book:
- Fatherhood in the Nordic Welfare States
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 04 March 2022
- Print publication:
- 26 November 2014, pp 53-78
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Summary
Introduction
Family law regulates the formal relationship between children and parents and between adults in close emotional relationships (Herring, 2009). It thus provides a definition of what constitutes legal families and legal relationships as in between fathers and their children. Historically, legal ties between children and parents constituted links to rights, property and power, and for decades the legal notions of fatherhood concerned biology and the economic contributions from father to child. In modern times, fatherhoods are strongly related to care and the rights of children in a broad sense. Family law thus deals with the framing and reframing of concepts such as marriage, cohabitation, mother, father, parentage, parental responsibility, residence, contact and child support.
Social and legal studies are currently grappling with the legal status of fathers in connection with often contradictory notions of rights, responsibilities, nurture, care and welfare, and family law reform has been widely noted as limited in dealing with the growing complexities of family life (Collier and Sheldon, 2006; Wallbank, 2010). Legislators are faced with the difficult task of trying to create a rational, unified system based on general principles, bound up with contradictory notions of evolving family ties, presumptions regarding the roles of fathers, the needs of children and gendered realities. Fatherhoods vary ‘across historical epochs and subcultural contexts’ (Lamb and Tamis-Lemonda, 2004, p 2), and many authors have contributed to the redefining and conceptualisation of fatherhoods and the status of fathers in family law in different jurisdictions (Dowd, 2000; Collier and Sheldon, 2008; Collier, 2010; Bridgeman et al, 2011). The Nordic countries share a culture based on common democratic and social values, and are ‘remarkably similar to each other as regards the fundamental perception of the legal system, its design, methodology and basic principles’ (Bernitz, 2007, p 28). This shared culture provides a basis for a legal study of how fatherhoods are understood, constructed and regulated in the context of Nordic family law.
The main aim of this chapter is to examine the development of contemporary Nordic family law and the extent to which common trends can be identified in the defining and redefining of fatherhoods; a further aim is to examine the inconsistencies, contradictions and competing interests in the basic arguments underlying the legal provisions regulating the relationship between fathers and their children, with a special emphasis on the child's perspective.