I almost want to cry over this, it's so horribly wrong.
I can understand French Guiana, Western Sahara and North Korea not giving any data...but Greenland? It's 50.000 people living beside a glacier, answering to Denmark. How could they not get data on that one?
Maybe because it's one of the most inefficient governments in the world? Very likely.
But being an Icelander, I find it nothing but a bad joke that Iceland is sharing the 7th place with the Netherlands. We should not be that high on the chart. Somewhere down in 30th place sounds about right. There is plenty of corruption here.
Want proof? Here are two good examples:
# Recently declassified documents have revealed that the government secretly wiretapped the telephones of "potential dissidents" from the early 1950 and well into the early 1980s. The majority of these wiretaps were done during the '60s, when a man named Bjarni Benediktsson was Prime Minister and authorized the wiretaps. The (families of these) victims have sought explanations, and more importantly, an apology from the current administration for unjustified invasion of privacy.
The current Minister of Justice says No, no discussion is neccessary, no apology is forthcoming. Who was the father of the Minister of Justice, by the way? Bjarni Benediktsson. A son protecting the "honour" of his father, at the cost of the rights of the people being bugged. Public outcry has demanded that the Minister resign (as he is a partial figure in the matter) but nothing has happened.
# In the days before the invasion of Iraq 5 years ago, Iceland's Prime Minister, Davíð Oddson, and Foreign Minister (at the time) decided all by themselves to declare that the country was a willing member of the Coalition Forces, led by the US. Alþingi (our parliament) was not consulted, other members of the government were not consulted, no-one was consulted. Not only did they breach parlimentary law by circumventing Alþingi (which would put the matter to a vote) but they also became guilty of treason by jeopardizing the neutrality of the nation by involving us in a war. (Iceland's constitution clearly states that the country shall always remain neutral and never get involved in war. We don't even have our own army.)
5 years have passed, and not a single action is being taken against either man. Both men have "retired" from politics into nice cushy jobs, and it seems that they will go unpunished for violating the constitution and getting our country involved in an invasion...not to mention making our country a potential target for terrorists.
