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Greenland to investigate possible human rights violations by Denmark in IUD scandal

The government in Greenland says it wants to investigate possible human rights violations related to forced contraception of women by Danish doctors in the 1960s and 1970s.

Published: 7 March 2024 15:16 CET
Greenland to investigate possible human rights violations by Denmark in IUD scandal
Greenland’s Minister of Justice and Equality, Naaja H. Nathanielsen. File photo: Christian Klindt Sølbeck/Ritzau Scanpix

Greenland’s Minister of Justice and Equality, Naaja H. Nathanielsen, confirmed in a statement the decision to probe the historical sterilisations, Greenlandic media KNR reports.

The investigation will take place parallel to another probe already ongoing under the auspices of the governments of both Denmark and Greenland.

The government in Greenland, Naalakkersuisut, has previously said it wanted the human rights element to form part of the existing inquiry, but Denmark has turned this down, Nathanielsen told KNR.

The Danish Ministry of the Interior and Health told newswire Ritzau it was unable to comment.

More than 140 Greenlandic women meanwhile sued the Danish state earlier this week for forcing them to have a coil, or intrauterine device (IUD), fitted in the 1960s and 1970.

Some of the women were teenagers at the time.

Denmark carried out the campaign quietly, without the women’s consent or even knowledge in some cases, to limit the birth rate in the Arctic territory, which was no longer a colony at the time but still under Danish control.

The lawyer for the plaintiffs, Mads Pramming, said on Monday that the case is a clear instance of human rights violation.

The Danish-Greenlandic investigation into the IUD scandal is expected to be completed in 2025. Its purpose is to uncover the political initiatives that resulted in the forced contraceptions.

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GREENLAND

Greenland boycotts Nordic Council over ‘discrimination’

The Danish autonomous territory of Greenland said on Wednesday it was suspending participation in the Nordic Council cooperation forum due to the discrimination to which it says it is subjected.

Published: 10 May 2024 10:09 CEST
Greenland boycotts Nordic Council over 'discrimination'

Greenland complained it had been excluded from an upcoming meeting on foreign and security policy to which only ministers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden — as well as non-Council member Germany — had been invited.

None of the Nordic region’s autonomous territories — Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Aland — had received invites.

“I cannot continue to participate in events where there is discrimination between the participants,” Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede wrote in an open letter sent late Tuesday to the current holder of the Nordic Council presidency, Sweden.

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He said he would reconsider Greenland’s suspension if the Nordic Council allowed it to “participate on equal terms with the other member states on all subjects — including foreign, security and defence policy subjects — in all Nordic Council forums.”

The decision comes amid strained relations between Copenhagen and Nuuk, the latter increasingly frustrated by Denmark’s control over Arctic issues.

The world’s largest island, located in the Arctic some 2,500 kilometres (1,550 miles) from Denmark, Greenland has its own flag, language, culture, institutions and prime minister. But it still relies heavily on a Danish grant, which makes up a quarter of its GDP and more than half of its public budget.

Defence, justice and foreign affairs are all decided by Copenhagen.

Last year, a Greenland commission presented a draft constitution to parliament, which the territory could use if it were to ever negotiate independence from Denmark.

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