Opið bréf til dómsmálaráðherra: They say being Icelandic is a privilege Jón Eðvarð Kristínarson skrifar 28. desember 2021 14:31 They say being Icelandic is a privilege. I have always been Icelandic and yet I have not had Icelandic citizenship for the most part of my life. I had to apply for it like any other foreigner. My mother is Icelandic and gave birth to me here in Reykjavík, Iceland. Nonetheless, Icelandic law states that because my father is a foreigner I would not be granted Icelandic citizenship. Period. When I try to explain this to people they are shocked. Because in an alternate universe, where my mother is the foreigner but my dad the Icelander, that married couple of four years would have had an Icelandic baby boy who would have been granted citizenship as a matter of fact. So yes, it certainly is a privilege to have Icelandic citizenship, simply being Icelandic is however not enough. The Icelandicness, sort of speak, according to this law is legitimate only if you are male but not if you are female. And they say the patriarchy is a myth. Over the years I wondered why my mother was reluctant to go back but after my application for citizenship, I think I understand. She is old now and I won’t bother her with questions but I will bother you, Mr Jón Gunnarsson, as Minister of Justice in Iceland. For my application for Icelandic citizenship, I had to contact my elderly parents via phone and have them find and send me numerous old documents from the US - mostly obviously those documents regarded the legitimacy of my mother’s existence. I had to fill out forms, apply and wait. I had to pay fees, make trips back and forth and wait some more. I had to make phone calls that resolved nothing but only added more waiting time. It took months to have my citizenship granted to me but in some ways, you could say I have been waiting for 49 years. Realizing the effect this law has had on my life it feels like I have been waiting when I should never have been waiting in the first place. Why did Jón from the alternate universe, the one who had an Icelandic father but a foreign mother, not have to wait like this. This law is humiliating to Icelandic women and a disgrace to a nation that claims to be fair and democratic to all. I write this letter to you Jón, as Minister of Justice, becaæuse I want justice for myself and for the children born to mothers like my mother. Mothers who were made to suffer shame when there was none. I wonder how many are there out there like me? How many of them have done what I did and obediently applied, paid and waited for their citizenship which should have already been theirs? How many of them are still out there oblivious, like I was, to the fact that we have been shunned of our legal birthright to Icelandic citizenship? I want to ask you Jón, as the Minister of Justice to the Icelandic people, what are the statistics of this law? How many Icelandic women gave birth during 1964-1982 to children with foreign fathers? Did the Icelandic government even keep a record of this? The reason I’m writing about this now and in public is that this law is still having an effect on the quality of my life. Having had my applied citizenship for five years now I am still confused and waiting. Because of my applied citizenship my daughter is unable to join me as the child of an Icelander who has Icelandic citizenship. Icelandic law still considers me a foreigner in this respect. If my citizenship was as valid as the citizenship granted the other children born to Icelandic fathers at the time of this law - my daughter would be here with me now. In all this I can count myself luckily, the US received me as a US citizen. Otherwise I would be part of the millions that are indeed stateless and without the right to healthcare, education or any other legal rights people generally take for granted. In this way, Icelandic law on citizenship discriminates based on nationality and gender and should not only be abolished but Alþingi should investigate this, locate the people who have suffered this law and offer their now grownup children immediate and unconditional citizenship. Höfundur er Íslendingur síðan 1972. Íslenskur ríkisborgari síðan desember 2016. Viltu birta grein á Vísi? Sendu okkur póst. Senda grein Mest lesið Hve lengi tekur sjórinn við? Björn Brynjúlfur Björnsson Skoðun Hliðarveruleiki hræðsluáróðurs og „pólitískur forarpyttur“ Þórður Snær Júlíusson Skoðun Fyrir hverja er Sjúkratryggingar Íslands? Hrefna Sif Jónsdóttir Skoðun Drögum úr fordómum í garð Breiðholts Alex Vor Ólafs,Jörundur Þór Hákonarson,Theodóra Líf Reykdal Skoðun Þekkir þú áhrifavaldana í lífi barnsins þíns? Daðey Albertsdóttir,Silja Björk Egilsdóttir,Skúli Bragi Geirdal Skoðun Að bregðast ungu fólki í viðkvæmri stöðu Ingibjörg Isaksen Skoðun Líffræðilega ómögulegt Björn Ólafsson Skoðun Nauðsynlegar breytingar á Menntasjóði námsmanna Ragna Sigurðardóttir Skoðun Minn gamli góði flokkur Hólmgeir Baldursson Skoðun Vindmyllufyrirtæki í áskrift hjá íslenskum almenningi Linda Jónsdóttir Skoðun Skoðun Skoðun Sérstök staða orkusveitarfélaga! Guðmundur Haukur Jakobsson skrifar Skoðun Miklar endurbætur á lánum menntasjóðs námsmanna Elín Íris Fanndal skrifar Skoðun Drögum úr fordómum í garð Breiðholts Alex Vor Ólafs,Jörundur Þór Hákonarson,Theodóra Líf Reykdal skrifar Skoðun Er almenningur rusl? Sigurður Ingi Friðleifsson skrifar Skoðun Líffræðilega ómögulegt Björn Ólafsson skrifar Skoðun Veiðigjaldið stendur undir kostnaði Heiðrún Lind Marteinsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Minn gamli góði flokkur Hólmgeir Baldursson skrifar Skoðun Hve lengi tekur sjórinn við? Björn Brynjúlfur Björnsson skrifar Skoðun Orkan okkar, börnin og barnabörnin Jóna Bjarnadóttir skrifar Skoðun Að fjárfesta í sjálfbærri verðmætasköpun Ingibjörg Ösp Stefánsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Að bregðast ungu fólki í viðkvæmri stöðu Ingibjörg Isaksen skrifar Skoðun Þekkir þú áhrifavaldana í lífi barnsins þíns? Daðey Albertsdóttir,Silja Björk Egilsdóttir,Skúli Bragi Geirdal skrifar Skoðun Hliðarveruleiki hræðsluáróðurs og „pólitískur forarpyttur“ Þórður Snær Júlíusson skrifar Skoðun Fyrir hverja er Sjúkratryggingar Íslands? Hrefna Sif Jónsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Nauðsynlegar breytingar á Menntasjóði námsmanna Ragna Sigurðardóttir skrifar Skoðun Skipta ekki öll börn jafn miklu máli? Greiðslur Reykjavíkurborgar fyrir nám barna utan sveitarfélags Hrönn Stefánsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Er sjálfbærni bara fyrir raungreinafólk? Saga Helgason skrifar Skoðun Börn í skjóli Kvennaathvarfsins Auður Magnúsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Börn, foreldrar og skólar í vanda: Hvernig eigum við að nálgast verkefnið? Margrét Sigmarsdóttir,Bergljót Gyða Guðmundsdóttir,Arndís Þorsteinsdóttir,Edda Vikar Guðmundsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Nýr vettvangur samskipta? Guðrún Hrefna Guðmundsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Nokkur atriði sem almennum borgara finnst að helst megi ekki ræða – eða mjög sjaldan Hjalti Þórðarson skrifar Skoðun Vilja Ísland í sambandsríki Hjörtur J. Guðmundsson skrifar Skoðun Blikkandi viðvörunarljós Ingveldur Anna Sigurðardóttir skrifar Skoðun „Evrópa er í hnignun“ – Er það samt? Lítum aðeins á söguna Guðni Freyr Öfjörð skrifar Skoðun Vindmyllufyrirtæki í áskrift hjá íslenskum almenningi Linda Jónsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Metnaðarfull markmið og stórir sigrar Halla Helgadóttir skrifar Skoðun Hvers virði er vara ef hún er ekki seld? Jón Jósafat Björnsson skrifar Skoðun Aulatal um að Evrópa sé veik og getulaus Ole Anton Bieltvedt skrifar Skoðun Ár vondra vinnubragða í Stúdentaráði HÍ Katla Ólafsdóttir,Mathias Bragi Ölvisson skrifar Skoðun Mannúð og hugrekki - gegn stríðsglæpum og þjóðarmorði Ólafur Ingólfsson skrifar Sjá meira
They say being Icelandic is a privilege. I have always been Icelandic and yet I have not had Icelandic citizenship for the most part of my life. I had to apply for it like any other foreigner. My mother is Icelandic and gave birth to me here in Reykjavík, Iceland. Nonetheless, Icelandic law states that because my father is a foreigner I would not be granted Icelandic citizenship. Period. When I try to explain this to people they are shocked. Because in an alternate universe, where my mother is the foreigner but my dad the Icelander, that married couple of four years would have had an Icelandic baby boy who would have been granted citizenship as a matter of fact. So yes, it certainly is a privilege to have Icelandic citizenship, simply being Icelandic is however not enough. The Icelandicness, sort of speak, according to this law is legitimate only if you are male but not if you are female. And they say the patriarchy is a myth. Over the years I wondered why my mother was reluctant to go back but after my application for citizenship, I think I understand. She is old now and I won’t bother her with questions but I will bother you, Mr Jón Gunnarsson, as Minister of Justice in Iceland. For my application for Icelandic citizenship, I had to contact my elderly parents via phone and have them find and send me numerous old documents from the US - mostly obviously those documents regarded the legitimacy of my mother’s existence. I had to fill out forms, apply and wait. I had to pay fees, make trips back and forth and wait some more. I had to make phone calls that resolved nothing but only added more waiting time. It took months to have my citizenship granted to me but in some ways, you could say I have been waiting for 49 years. Realizing the effect this law has had on my life it feels like I have been waiting when I should never have been waiting in the first place. Why did Jón from the alternate universe, the one who had an Icelandic father but a foreign mother, not have to wait like this. This law is humiliating to Icelandic women and a disgrace to a nation that claims to be fair and democratic to all. I write this letter to you Jón, as Minister of Justice, becaæuse I want justice for myself and for the children born to mothers like my mother. Mothers who were made to suffer shame when there was none. I wonder how many are there out there like me? How many of them have done what I did and obediently applied, paid and waited for their citizenship which should have already been theirs? How many of them are still out there oblivious, like I was, to the fact that we have been shunned of our legal birthright to Icelandic citizenship? I want to ask you Jón, as the Minister of Justice to the Icelandic people, what are the statistics of this law? How many Icelandic women gave birth during 1964-1982 to children with foreign fathers? Did the Icelandic government even keep a record of this? The reason I’m writing about this now and in public is that this law is still having an effect on the quality of my life. Having had my applied citizenship for five years now I am still confused and waiting. Because of my applied citizenship my daughter is unable to join me as the child of an Icelander who has Icelandic citizenship. Icelandic law still considers me a foreigner in this respect. If my citizenship was as valid as the citizenship granted the other children born to Icelandic fathers at the time of this law - my daughter would be here with me now. In all this I can count myself luckily, the US received me as a US citizen. Otherwise I would be part of the millions that are indeed stateless and without the right to healthcare, education or any other legal rights people generally take for granted. In this way, Icelandic law on citizenship discriminates based on nationality and gender and should not only be abolished but Alþingi should investigate this, locate the people who have suffered this law and offer their now grownup children immediate and unconditional citizenship. Höfundur er Íslendingur síðan 1972. Íslenskur ríkisborgari síðan desember 2016.
Drögum úr fordómum í garð Breiðholts Alex Vor Ólafs,Jörundur Þór Hákonarson,Theodóra Líf Reykdal Skoðun
Þekkir þú áhrifavaldana í lífi barnsins þíns? Daðey Albertsdóttir,Silja Björk Egilsdóttir,Skúli Bragi Geirdal Skoðun
Skoðun Drögum úr fordómum í garð Breiðholts Alex Vor Ólafs,Jörundur Þór Hákonarson,Theodóra Líf Reykdal skrifar
Skoðun Þekkir þú áhrifavaldana í lífi barnsins þíns? Daðey Albertsdóttir,Silja Björk Egilsdóttir,Skúli Bragi Geirdal skrifar
Skoðun Skipta ekki öll börn jafn miklu máli? Greiðslur Reykjavíkurborgar fyrir nám barna utan sveitarfélags Hrönn Stefánsdóttir skrifar
Skoðun Börn, foreldrar og skólar í vanda: Hvernig eigum við að nálgast verkefnið? Margrét Sigmarsdóttir,Bergljót Gyða Guðmundsdóttir,Arndís Þorsteinsdóttir,Edda Vikar Guðmundsdóttir skrifar
Skoðun Nokkur atriði sem almennum borgara finnst að helst megi ekki ræða – eða mjög sjaldan Hjalti Þórðarson skrifar
Drögum úr fordómum í garð Breiðholts Alex Vor Ólafs,Jörundur Þór Hákonarson,Theodóra Líf Reykdal Skoðun
Þekkir þú áhrifavaldana í lífi barnsins þíns? Daðey Albertsdóttir,Silja Björk Egilsdóttir,Skúli Bragi Geirdal Skoðun