Greenland says genocide question remains unresolved after contraception reports
Greenland's justice minister said the government cannot determine whether genocide occurred during a forced contraception programme against Inuit women in the 1960s and 70s, after two expert reports reached opposing conclusions.
Greenland's justice minister, Marianne Paviasen, said the government is unable to conclusively state whether genocide was committed against the Inuit community through a forced birth-control programme carried out by Danish doctors in the 1960s and 70s. National archive records show that between 1966 and 1970, about 4,500 Greenlandic women and girls, some as young as 13, had IUDs implanted, often without their knowledge or consent. The practice was so widespread it sharply slowed population growth, with the fertility rate falling from seven children per woman in 1966 to 2.3 by 1974.
Two conflicting reports
Two expert reports on the programme were released on Friday, a year after Denmark formally apologised to affected Inuit women and girls. A four-member expert panel originally tasked with the investigation split, with two members resigning to produce their own separate findings. Alaskan lawyer Dalee Sambo Dorough and University of Copenhagen law professor Miriam Cullen concluded that the rights of Inuit women had been violated, but said genocide could not be established based on the contraceptive practices alone. They noted that genocidal intent remained a possible inference a court might draw from other evidence, such as the removal of Inuit children into Danish families.
The second report, by former Danish Institute for Human Rights head Jonas Christoffersen and psychologist Jensine Nedergaard, acknowledged wrongdoing but could not determine its full extent, and found no evidence that any authority or health professional had intended to destroy the Greenlandic population.
Next steps
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen announced plans for a reconciliation commission, while Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen pledged continued cooperation between the two governments. Denmark has already passed a law compensating each affected woman 300,000 Danish crowns (about $46,800). Some affected women criticised the process for excluding Greenlandic Inuit experts from the panel and described the treatment they suffered as inhumane.
