Denmark to Pay Reparations for Greenlanders For Forced Birth Control

Denmark this week officially apologized and announced reparations for Indigenous female Greenlanders who were forced to use contraceptive coils by Danish health authorities, and others in the country who were discriminated against, the Guardian reported. 

During a ceremony in Greenland’s capital of Nuuk on Wednesday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen offered their official apologies for their governments’ roles in forcing Greenlandic Indigenous women to have intrauterine contraceptive devices (IUDs) fitted against their will in cases dating back to the 1960s, according to France 24.  

The alleged reason behind the forced contraception was to limit population growth in Greenland, which was rapidly increasing at the time, thanks to better health care and living conditions.  

The Danish government said it would establish a fund to financially compensate these victims as well as other Greenlanders who have faced systemic discrimination. 

Frederiksen had previously apologized for the IUD scandal for the first time in August. Then, Denmark and Greenland published apologies last month for their involvement in the abuse, ahead of the publication of an independent investigation into the matter that found that Inuit victims, some as young as 12, were either fitted with IUDs or given hormonal birth control injections without being given details about the procedures or asked for their consent. 

The report covered the experience of 354 women, but Danish authorities say more than 4,000 – reportedly half the fertile women in Greenland at the time – received IUDs between the 1960s and mid-1970s, possibly longer.  

The victims have been waiting for compensation for years. In 2023, about 60 of them sued the Danish government after a series of podcasts by Danish broadcaster DR exposed the extent of the campaign, the BBC wrote.  

Shortly after the announcement of reparations, the Danish national appeals board said it was reversing a decision to separate a Greenlandic mother from her daughter one hour after she was born, following “parenting competence” tests that have often led to forced separations of Greenlandic families and have been criticized as racist.  

In recent years, the IUD scandals and the “parenting competence” tests have drawn attention to Denmark’s treatment of Greenland. The Arctic island was a Danish colony until 1953 and remains part of the Danish commonwealth today. 

Besides parenting tests and forced contraception, Denmark had other policies that discriminated against Greenlanders, including removing Inuit children from their parents and giving them to Danish families for reeducation. 

Frederiksen’s announcement arrives amid international pressure, particularly from the US, which has repeatedly expressed interest in acquiring the self-governing territory. Meanwhile, Denmark’s efforts to placate Greenland’s independence movement have been overshadowed by past abuses.