Greenland is establishing a truth and reconciliation commission regarding the decades-long forced birth control program targeting Inuit girls and women, after two expert reports failed to reach a consensus on whether it constituted genocide.
According to a joint Danish-Greenlandic investigation published last year, from the 1960s to the 1990s, at least 4,000 Inuit in Greenland—including girls as young as 12—were fitted with intrauterine devices (IUDs) or given birth control injections, often without consent or knowledge.
The investigation determined that the practice aimed to reduce birth rates and family sizes, which Danish authorities at the time considered a way to improve living standards as well as social and health conditions in Greenland, an Arctic island under semi-autonomous Danish sovereignty with a population of 57,000.
Greenland's government tasked a four-member commission in 2024 to investigate the campaign, which left some victims with severe infections, scarring in their fallopian tubes, or necessitated hysterectomies. Some subsequently became unable to have children.
However, the experts could not reach a unanimous conclusion, Greenland's Justice Minister Marianne Paviasen said on Friday, with one report saying there was no genocide, while the other argued that the extent of the violations could not be determined.
“We cannot state on behalf of the government whether there was genocide. That is something we can continue to debate,” Paviasen said.
Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the reconciliation commission would “not aim to assign blame, but to clarify the truth to move towards genuine reconciliation.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Copenhagen would “handle the political process together with the Greenlandic government.”
However, Greenland's Siumut party called for the genocide issue to be addressed by “an independent and competent international court.” “Today, we could have been more Greenlanders,” the party added.
Some victims questioned why no Greenlandic Inuit had been appointed as experts, while they had to retell the painful memories the commission unearthed.
“For me, this is not just a historical or political issue. It is my body, my life, and my right to self-determination,” Henriette Berthelsen told AFP. “And once again, I see that others will investigate and define what happened to me and other Inuit women,” she added.
Inger Platou, 70, told Reuters she woke up after what she was told was a minor operation, only to discover an IUD had been inserted without her consent. “It turned out we were treated like animals,” she said. “There was no consent; they just wanted to prevent women from giving birth or having children. It was a very inhumane act.”
Complications from the device left her unable to conceive, she said.
Denmark apologized for the program last year, with Frederiksen describing it as “systematic discrimination” against Greenlanders. On Thursday, the Danish parliament agreed that women affected by the forced birth control campaign could seek compensation of up to 300,000 Danish crowns (approximately $46,758) each.
