Forced birth control in Greenland violated women’s rights, experts find
Truth commission to be established after two expert reports failed to agree whether scheme constituted genocide.
Two expert reports concluded on Friday that a campaign of forced contraception in Greenland between the 1960s and 1970s violated women's human rights but did not constitute genocide. The practice, which involved administering contraception without valid consent to at least 4,000 Greenlandic women and girls, including some as young as 12, aimed to reduce birth rates and family sizes.
While the reports found that the administration of contraception without consent breached the women's right to respect for their private and family life, subjected them to degrading treatment, and caused significant health consequences, they differed on whether this amounted to a systematic violation. The reports were conducted by a joint Danish-Greenlandic inquiry in 2025 and a separate study by three legal experts and a psychologist in 2024.
The Greenlandic Prime Minister and Danish Prime Minister expressed their commitment to a reconciliation commission to uncover the truth and promote genuine reconciliation. The issue has gained international attention due to US President Donald Trump's pledge to take over Greenland and calls for the establishment of an independent international court to settle the genocide question.
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