Work has begun on the preparation of a Green Book on human rights by the prime minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir. The Green Book is intended as a precursor to further strategic planning. In this work, great emphasis is placed on consultation with the country’s residents.
Five consultation meetings were held, in Selfoss, in Reykjavík, in Akureyri, in Egilsstaðir and in Ísafjörður. During these meetings, human rights issues in Iceland were discussed in a broad context, and the main challenges in this regard as well as opportunities were discussed.
The meetings were well attended and they started with presentations by Katrínar Jakobsdóttir and dr. Kári Hólmar Ragnarsson. In addition, shorter presentations were delivered by locals. After that, the participants arranged themselves at round tables, each with a table leader that was responsible for directing the discussions.
At the meeting in Ísafjörður, on the 8. of September, the representatives of The Multicultural Information Centre (MCC) took roles as table leaders along with others and Nichole Leigh Mosty, the director of MCC, delivered a short presentation.
There were good discussions among a diverse group of participants, but public involvement is a very important part of this kind of project.
Green Book project plan (in Icelandic only)
