A group of 13 refugees from Syria will arrive in Iceland in the next few weeks. In the group are adults and children with disabilities.
Minister of Social Affairs and Housing Eygló Harðardóttir expressed her disappointment to RÚV of how long it has taken to complete the process. The government decided last spring to offer asylum in Iceland to13 refugees from Syria in need of healthcare.
Eygló explained that it had taken longer than expected to complete the necessary paperwork and other tasks in order to resettle the individuals in Iceland but that the Icelandic government had ensured that the individuals received healthcare at the refugee camp in Turkey during the waiting period.
Two other groups of refugees were invited to settle in Iceland last year: a single mother from Afghanistan with five children, who arrived in Iceland last autumn, and a group of LGBT individuals, who are yet to arrive.
It has been six years since the last large group of refugees were resettled in Iceland, when 30 women and children from Palestine arrived in Akranes, West Iceland.
