Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has made a long-overdue apology to the families of Greenlandic women and to the women themselves who were subjected to what she called "systematic discrimination" during a contraceptive campaign.
Between the 1960s and 70s, thousands of Inuit girls and women aged as young as 12 were fitted with contraceptive devices under a birth-control programme led by Danish physicians.
"We can't make what has been done undone. But we can take the responsibility," Frederiksen said of the scandal.
"On behalf of Denmark, I want to apologize," she continued, admitting that victims had "been subjected to both physical and psychological harm".
The scope of the birth-control programme was revealed in 2022 by an investigative podcast named Spiralkampagnen – the coil campaign. The device employed, referred to as a coil, is inserted in the womb to inhibit pregnancy.
Records indicate that between 1966 and 1970, 4,500 girls and women, some only 13 years of age, were fitted with an IUD. It is not known how many had no consent, but dozens of women have given traumatic testimony, and some were left infertile. One group of 143 women has since sued the Danish state for compensation; 138 were under 18 at the time.
Use of the contraceptive devices was so common that Greenland's population growth slowed sharply. On Danish television in December, Greenland's former Prime Minister Mute B Egede described it as "genocide".
A formal investigation was initiated, with the results to be announced next month after two years of probe.
"Even though we don't see everything," Frederiksen stated, "it leaves a serious impression on the government, that so many Greenlandic women in unison tell us that they have been abused by the Danish healthcare system."
Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen stated his government also accepted responsibility but said it was high time Denmark apologized.
"For too long, victims. have been silenced to death. It's a pity an apology comes only now - it's too bad and too late," he added.
Victim Henriette Berthelsen welcomed the apology, although not until now. Psychologist Naja Lyberth stated it was "100% clear the government had broken the law by violating our human rights and causing us serious harm".
Lawyer Mads Pramming, who stands for the women, said: "An apology, nice of course, and it pleases my clients. That's part of what they require. [What] we've not heard anything about, is whether they also acknowledge or concur that this was an infringement of human rights."
Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic MP, welcomed the apology, emphasizing the need for political follow-up and compensation to victims. "These various cases that are not historic, but actually current. These are individuals who are alive today, that have been impacted by this," she told AFP.
Greenland was a colony of Denmark until 1953 and only achieved home rule in 1979. Copenhagen still controlled healthcare prior to Greenland taking control in 1992. This scandal forms part of a chain of scandals that exist within Danish-Greenlandic relations, including coercive adoptions and the removal of children from Inuit families.
