Denmark has reached an agreement to compensate thousands of Greenlandic Inuit women and girls who were fitted with intrauterine devices (IUDs) without their knowledge or consent under a decades‑long birth control campaign.
Records uncovered in 2022 revealed that from the 1960s through to 1991, when Greenland gained control of its healthcare system, Danish authorities had used IUDs extensively on Greenlandic women (some as young as 13) often without proper information or consent.
Under the new political agreement, around 4,500 women are expected to be eligible to apply for compensation of 300,000 Danish kroner (about $46,000) each, to be paid through a reconciliation fund. Applications are due to open in 2026, with payments expected later that year.
Greenlandic MP Aaja Chemnitz welcomed the decision, saying the women were finally receiving compensation they had “been fighting for for many years”. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has previously apologised in person, calling the campaign a “dark chapter” and saying the country had for too long “turned a blind eye to the injustice that was committed against them”.
The scandal has been described by Greenland’s former prime minister as a form of “genocide”, reflecting how reproductive control was used as a tool of colonialism.
“Our activism as speakers and interviewees has been effective,” said Bula Larsen. “We started our activism in 2022 with giving interviews and now within three years we got an apology and compensation for the pains and sorrows we have been through.”
For Indigenous communities globally (including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who have their own histories of coercive reproductive practices and child removals) the Greenland settlement is being closely watched as an example of how states might provide redress, truth‑telling, and guarantees that such abuses will not be repeated.
Discover more from Indigenous News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
