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COLONIALISM

Denmark apologises to children taken from Greenland in 1950s

Denmark's government has formally apologised to the 22 Greenlanders who were moved to Denmark and cut off from their families in the 1950s in an attempt to bridge the cultural gap between the Scandinavian country and its then-colony.

Published: 9 December 2020 10:31 CET
Denmark apologises to children taken from Greenland in 1950s
Helene Thiesen, who was taken by Denmark from her family in Greenland in 1951, here pictured in 2016. Photo: Nikolai Linares/Ritzau Scanpix

In 1951, 22 children were chosen to be moved to Denmark from Greenland, which until 1953 was a Danish colony.

They were promised a better life in Denmark with the goal of them later returning to Greenland, as assimilated Danes, to form a future elite which could serve as a link between Copenhagen and Greenland's capital Nuuk.

In Denmark, the children were deprived of contact with relatives and once they returned to Greenland they were not reunited with their parents but instead put in an orphanage. Many of them would never see their families again.

“We cannot change what happened. But we can take responsibility and apologise to those we should have cared for but failed to do,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement.

“I have been following the case for many years and I am still deeply touched by the human tragedies it contains,” said Frederiksen, who has sent a letter to each of the six children who are still alive.

One of them, Helene Thiesen, who was seven years old at the time she left for Denmark, said she was comforted by the apology.

“I am relieved that the apology has finally been delivered. It is really, really important. It means everything. I've been fighting for this since 1998,” she told the news agency Ritzau.

The official apology follows the publishing of a study which examined the fates of the children.

Greenland's Prime Minister Kim Kielsen was quoted in the government statement saying that he was moved as he learned of the plight of the children and reflected on how “cooperation between Denmark and Greenland has developed a lot. Today we are equals, looking back on history together”.

The massive Arctic territory of Greenland, now an autonomous territory within the kingdom of Denmark, has said that full independence is in the future, though no timetable has been set.

Greenland still relies on Denmark for state functions like maintaining the currency, foreign relations and defence policy, and separating would mean the loss of an annual subsidy of some 480 million euros or 60 percent of its budget.

READ ALSO: Glacial 1991 day in Greenland belatedly sets Arctic cold record

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ENVIRONMENT

Greenland passes law banning uranium mining

Greenland's parliament voted Tuesday to ban uranium mining and exploration in the vast Danish territory, following through on a campaign promise from the ruling left-wing party which was elected earlier this year.

Published: 10 November 2021 09:31 CET
Greenland's parliament voted on November 9th to ban uranium mining. Prime Minister Mute Egede, pictured, said earlier this month he wanted to join the Paris climate agreement.
Greenland's parliament voted on November 9th to ban uranium mining. Prime Minister Mute Egede, pictured, said earlier this month he wanted to join the Paris climate agreement. File photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

The Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) party won snap elections in April that were originally triggered by divisions over a controversial uranium and rare earth mining project.

The IA won 12 seats in the 31-seat Greenlandic national assembly, beating its rival Siumut, a social democratic party that had dominated politics in the island territory since it gained autonomy in 1979.

On Tuesday 12 MPs in the national assembly voted to ban uranium mining, with nine voting against. 

The IA had campaigned against exploiting the Kuannersuit deposit, which is located in fjords in the island’s south and is considered one of the world’s richest in uranium and rare earth minerals.

The project, led by the Chinese-owned Australian group Greenland Minerals, has not yet been officially abandoned.

But French group Orano announced in May it would not launch exploration despite holding permits to do so.

The massive natural riches of the vast island — measuring two million square kilometres, making it larger than Mexico — have been eyed by many, but few projects have been approved.

The island is currently home to two mines: one for anorthosite, whose deposits contain titanium, and one for rubies and pink sapphires.

While Greenland’s local government is not opposed to all mining activities, it has also banned all oil exploration over concerns for the climate and the environment.

Earlier this month Prime Minister Mute Egede said he wanted to join the Paris climate agreement, which Greenland is one of the few countries not to have ratified.

READ ALSO: Greenland seabed scoured for marine diamonds

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