In brief
The Greenlandic government has not reached a definitive conclusion on whether the 1960s‑70s forced contraceptive program constituted genocide. Two independent panels delivered opposing views, with one affirming human‑rights violations but not genocide, the other finding no genocidal intent. The debate underscores lingering grievances among Inuit women who endured non‑consensual IUD insertion. Danish lawmakers and Greenlandic officials have promised joint investigations and reparations, reflecting a continuing process of reconciliation.
Greenland's justice minister says evidence of forced contraception is not conclusive for genocide
Marianne Paviasen, Greenland’s Justice Minister, told reporters that the state cannot confirm or deny the use of forced contraception as a genocide. She added that the matter remains open for debate.
Two expert reports released on Friday, a year after Denmark apologized for treating Inuit women and girls, offer conflicting conclusions. One report, authored by Dalee Sambo Dorough and Miriam Cullen, confirms human‑rights violations but stops short of classifying the practice as genocide. The other, from Jonas Christoffersen and Jensine Nedergaard, finds no evidence of an intention to eradicate Greenland’s population through contraception alone.
Records reveal that between 1966 and 1970, 4,500 Greenlandic women – some as young as 13 – received intra‑uterine devices (IUDs) under a Danish-born control programme. Many women now speak out, describing the implants as inserted no‑consent surgeries that left them infertile.
"For me, this is not just about history or politics. It’s my body, my life and my right to self‑determination," — Henriette Berthelsen.
In response to the split findings, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen pledged a joint political effort and vowed to address the issue together with Greenland. Denmark has also enacted a compensation law, allocating 300,000 Danish crowns (£34,404) to each woman affected by the policy.
The debate touches on broader themes of colonial governance, indigenous rights, and medical ethics. While the policy achieved its aim of reducing Greenland’s fertility rate from seven children per woman to 2.3 over the eight‑year period, it did so through methods now condemned as inhumane.
