Greenland to present report on forced contraceptions

In 2025, a Greenlandic commission is set to reveal its findings on whether Denmark's forced contraception campaign against thousands of Inuit women in the 1960s to 1990s should be classified as genocide. This dark chapter in Greenland's history saw over 4,000 Inuit women forcibly fitted with contraceptive coils, often without their consent or that of their parents if they were minors.

The commission, appointed in August 2024 by Greenland's minister of justice and gender equality, has been tasked with examining the legal implications of the campaign. Despite the controversy surrounding the selection of experts, the commission's four appointed members were unable to reach a consensus, resulting in the submission of two reports nearly six months late.

The campaign, which affected girls as young as 12, left many women with life-long consequences, including the inability to bear children. Nuuk and Copenhagen have acknowledged other painful chapters from the past, such as children adopted without parental consent or torn from their families. In a recent development, the Danish parliament agreed that women affected by the forced contraception campaign can claim compensation from Copenhagen, following Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's official apology last year.

The revelations have reignited the trauma that had been buried for decades, with victims like Kirstine Najarak Berthelsen expressing their deep pain. She has called for the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation commission to acknowledge what happened, emphasizing that only then will they be able to heal and move forward as equal human beings.