Greenland establishes truth commission on forced contraception of Inuit women

Greenland is establishing a truth and reconciliation commission surrounding a decades-long forced contraceptive scheme against Indigenous girls and women, after two expert reports failed to agree whether it constituted genocide.

From the 1960s to the 1990s, at least 4,000 Greenlandic Inuits – including girls as young as 12 – received intrauterine devices (IUDs) or contraceptive injections, often without their consent or knowledge, a joint Danish-Greenlandic inquiry found last year.

That inquiry found the practice was intended to reduce birth rates and family sizes, which Danish authorities at the time viewed as a way to improve living standards and social and health conditions in Greenland, an Arctic island and semi-sovereign territory of Denmark, with a population of 57,000.

Greenland’s government tasked a four-member commission in 2024 with investigating the campaign, which led some victims to suffer serious infections, scarring of the fallopian tubes or removal of the uterus. Some were later unable to have children.

But the experts could not reach a unanimous conclusion, Greenland’s Justice Minister Marianne Paviasen told reporters on Friday, with one report stating there was no genocide and the other saying the extent of the violations could not be established.

“We cannot say, on behalf of the government, whether there was genocide. This is something we can continue to debate,” Paviasen said.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the reconciliation commission would “not be about assigning blame, but about uncovering the truth with a view to genuine reconciliation”.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Copenhagen would “handle the political process together with the government of Greenland”.

The Greenlandic Siumut Party, however, urged the genocide question to be settled by “a competent and independent international court”.

“Today we could have been far more Greenlanders,” the party added.

‘Treated like animals’

Victims have questioned why no Greenlandic Inuit were appointed as experts while recounting painful histories dug up by the panel.

“For me, this is not just about history or politics. It’s my body, my life, and my right to self-determination,” Henriette Berthelsen told the AFP news agency.

“And once again, I see that it is others who will investigate and define what was done to me and to other Inuit women,” she added.

Inger Platou, 70, told Reuters she had woken up from what she had been told was a minor operation only to discover an IUD had been inserted without her consent.

“It turns out we were treated like animals,” she said. “Without consent, they just wanted to stop women from giving birth or having children. It was a very inhumane act.”

Complications from the coil left her unable to become pregnant, she said.

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

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