Forced birth control in Greenland violated women’s rights, experts find

Truth committee to beryllium established aft 2 adept reports failed to hold whether strategy constituted genocide.

Greenland is establishing a information and reconciliation committee surrounding a decades-long forced contraceptive strategy against Indigenous girls and women, aft 2 adept reports failed to hold whether it constituted genocide.

From the 1960s to the 1990s, astatine slightest 4,000 Greenlandic Inuits – including girls arsenic young arsenic 12 – received intrauterine devices (IUDs) oregon contraceptive injections, often without their consent oregon knowledge, a associated Danish-Greenlandic enquiry recovered past year.

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That enquiry recovered the signifier was intended to trim commencement rates and household sizes, which Danish authorities astatine the clip viewed arsenic a mode to amended surviving standards and societal and wellness conditions successful Greenland, an Arctic land and semi-sovereign territory of Denmark, with a colonisation of 57,000.

Greenland’s authorities tasked a four-member committee successful 2024 with investigating the campaign, which led immoderate victims to endure superior infections, scarring of the fallopian tubes oregon removal of the uterus. Some were aboriginal incapable to person children.

But the experts could not scope a unanimous conclusion, Greenland’s Justice Minister Marianne Paviasen told reporters connected Friday, with 1 study stating determination was nary genocide and the different saying the grade of the violations could not beryllium established.

“We cannot say, connected behalf of the government, whether determination was genocide. This is thing we tin proceed to debate,” Paviasen said.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the reconciliation committee would “not beryllium astir assigning blame, but astir uncovering the information with a presumption to genuine reconciliation”.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Copenhagen would “handle the governmental process unneurotic with the authorities of Greenland”.

The Greenlandic Siumut Party, however, urged the genocide question to beryllium settled by “a competent and autarkic planetary court”.

“Today we could person been acold much Greenlanders,” the enactment added.

‘Treated similar animals’

Victims person questioned wherefore nary Greenlandic Inuit were appointed arsenic experts portion recounting achy histories dug up by the panel.

“For me, this is not conscionable astir past oregon politics. It’s my body, my life, and my close to self-determination,” Henriette Berthelsen told the AFP quality agency.

“And erstwhile again, I spot that it is others who volition analyse and specify what was done to maine and to different Inuit women,” she added.

Inger Platou, 70, told Reuters she had woken up from what she had been told was a insignificant cognition lone to observe an IUD had been inserted without her consent.

“It turns retired we were treated similar animals,” she said. “Without consent, they conscionable wanted to halt women from giving commencement oregon having children. It was a precise inhumane act.”

Complications from the coil near her incapable to go pregnant, she said.

Denmark apologised for the strategy past year, with Frederiksen describing “systematic discrimination” against Greenlanders.

On Thursday, the Danish parliament agreed that women affected by the forced contraception run tin assertion compensation of up to 300,000 Danish crowns ($46,758) each.