# Are blacks allowed in Iceland? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 21, 2000, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blacks-allowed-in-iceland/6426 "2000-01-21T07:54:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blacks-allowed-in-iceland/6426/21 "2015-09-15T11:13:26Z")
> [@Weirofhermiston](#): > > True, but it is a member of the European Free Trade Area. Membership requires it to observe the free movement arrangements that bind EU members. I know, I was merely correcting an error in the statement in the spirit of the whole point behind this website. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blacks-allowed-in-iceland/6426/22 "2015-09-15T13:10:38Z")
Let’s take a look at the [Icelandic Constitution](http://www.government.is/constitution): > [@](#): > > Article 65 > Everyone shall be equal before the law and enjoy human rights irrespective of sex, religion, opinion, national origin, race, colour, property, birth or other status. > > Men and women shall enjoy equal rights in all respects. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blacks-allowed-in-iceland/6426/23 "2015-09-15T13:39:01Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > I know, I was merely correcting an error in the statement in the spirit of the whole point behind this website. No you weren’t. Iceland is a member of the European Economic Area, which is exactly what **UDS** posted. The EEA consists of the EU and three of the four EFTA countries. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blacks-allowed-in-iceland/6426/24 "2015-09-15T14:04:32Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > No you weren’t. Iceland is a member of the European Economic Area, which is exactly what **UDS** posted. The EEA consists of the EU and three of the four EFTA countries. Reread what was written. > [@UDS](#): > > **Iceland is part of the European Economic Area** , which assures (among other things) free movement of persons among member states of the Area, **and of the EU**. Bolding mine to emphasise the statement, excluding the additional explanation of what the EEA provides. And I can now see that this is going to boil down to a grammar/sentence structure argument. All I will say is that if UDS meant > [@](#): > > Iceland is part of the European Economic Area, which assures (among other things) free movement of persons among member states of the Area and of the EU. Then that is what UDS should have written. But he/she didn’t and in that case the “and of the EU” was not required as the entire EU is part of the EEA. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blacks-allowed-in-iceland/6426/25 "2015-09-15T14:19:47Z")
You are misreading the sentence, which is admittedly not a model of clarity. The “of” in “of the EU” refers back to “member states of the area,” not to “of the [EEA]”. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blacks-allowed-in-iceland/6426/26 "2015-09-15T14:56:14Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > You are misreading the sentence, which is admittedly not a model of clarity. The “of” in “of the EU” refers back to “member states of the area,” not to “of the [EEA]”. You are misreading it. ---
**Author:** ![Doughbag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Doughbag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doughbag)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blacks-allowed-in-iceland/6426/27 "2015-09-15T17:15:21Z")
Straight from wiki: > [@](#): > > The European Economic Area (EEA) provides for the free movement of persons, goods, services and capital within the internal market of the European Union (EU) between its 28 member states, as well as three of the four member states of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA): Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. [Cite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Economic_Area) ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blacks-allowed-in-iceland/6426/28 "2015-09-16T00:12:05Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > You are misreading it. His reading is not the one I intended, but I think that’s more my fault than his. I constructed the sentence poorly. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blacks-allowed-in-iceland/6426/29 "2015-09-16T03:42:04Z")
Is it the EAA that is the deciding law/factor here, or the [Schengen Area](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area), which limits border controls? There is lots of overlap, but they’re not 1:1. I have flown from a non-EU, Schengen country to a EU, non-Schengen country (Norway to UK) to the US and (IIRC) I had to go through immigration twice. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blacks-allowed-in-iceland/6426/30 "2015-09-16T03:47:20Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > You are misreading the sentence, which is admittedly not a model of clarity. The “of” in “of the EU” refers back to “member states of the area,” not to “of the [EEA]”. > [@amanset](#): > > You are misreading it. > [@UDS](#): > > His reading is not the one I intended, but I think that’s more my fault than his. I constructed the sentence poorly. [Moderating] As long as the correct information has now been posted, I don’t think it matters who misread what where when and how. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blacks-allowed-in-iceland/6426/31 "2015-09-16T04:05:12Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Is it the EAA that is the deciding law/factor here, or the [Schengen Area](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area), which limits border controls? There is lots of overlap, but they’re not 1:1. I have flown from a non-EU, Schengen country to a EU, non-Schengen country (Norway to UK) to the US and (IIRC) I had to go through immigration twice. It’s the EEA. Iceland is in the Schengen area, and a person travelling from (say) Germany to Iceland would not pass through any border controls. A person travelling to Iceland from the UK (which is not in the Schengen area) would pass through border controls but, if that person were an EEA/EU national, would be admitted to Iceland regardless of race or ethnicity. The Schengen Area could be suspended tomorrow; an EEA/EU national would still enjoy the right of enty to Iceland to live, work, study, retire, etc. Whereas if the EEA were dissolved there would be no such right (plus, as a consequence, Iceland would have leave the Schengen Area). ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blacks-allowed-in-iceland/6426/32 "2015-09-16T17:17:58Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Are there any countries today that have formal (legally enforced) exclusion policies based on race or ethnicity? I believe that there are some issues in the Middle East with respect to religion, but I was under the impression that the restrictions were based on religion and citizenship, not ethnicity or race per se. For example, a person of Jewish ancestry who has converted to Christianity or Islam and is traveling on a non-Israeli passport is unlikely to be blocked by “No Jews” policies. > > If there are countries that do have such policies, how are they formally defined and adjudicated? For example, is it primarily based on appearance? DNA testing? Genealogical background checks? Names (E.g. whether your name appears on a defined list of “ethnic names”)? There are some countries that still restrict citizenship along ethnic lines; the Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar is occurring because [Burmese nationality law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_nationality_law) doesn’t recognize members of this group as citizens. But this isn’t quite the same as a racial exclusion policy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blacks-allowed-in-iceland/6426.md?page=1)