Denmark apologizes to the victims of the Inuit of Greenland of forced contraception

Denmark Prime Minister puts Frederiksen, apologized at the same time awaited to green women and their families affected by what she called “systematic discrimination” during a contraceptive campaign.

During the 1960s and 70s, thousands of women and girls inits as young as 12 were equipped with contraceptive devices, as part of a birth control program administered by Danish doctors.

“We cannot change what happened. But we can assume responsibilities,” said Frederiksen about the scandal.

“On behalf of Denmark, I would like to say sorry,” she said, recognizing that the victims had “suffered physical and psychological damage”.

The magnitude of the birth control program was highlighted for the first time in 2022, by an investigation podcast called The spiral campaign – The coil campaign.

The device used is commonly called coil and is placed inside the uterus, or uterus, to avoid pregnancy.

In recent years, many women have presented themselves to say that they were equipped with an intrauterine device (IUD) without their knowledge or their consent.

Few were previously aware of the contraceptive campaign, and the reports caused a shock and anger.

The files of the national archives have shown that, between 1966 and 1970, 4,500 women and girls, some as young as 13, were an IUD implemented.

Among these, it is not clear how many cases were lacking in consent. However, dozens of women presented themselves by sharing traumatic personal accounts and some were left sterile.

A group of 143 women has since filed a complaint against the Danish state requiring compensation: 138 of them were less than 18 years at the time.

The use of birth control was so widespread that Greenland’s demographic growth has seriously slowed down.

Speaking on Danish television last December, the former Prime Minister of Greenland, Mute B egede, said that it was “genocide”.

An official survey has been launched and the results will be published next month after two years of investigation.

“Even if we do not have the full image,” said Frederiksen, “that makes a serious impression on the government, that so many Greenlandic women unanimously report that they have been subjected to abuse by the Danish health system.”

One of the victims, Henriette Berthelsen, said that she was satisfied with the apology, even if she had come late.

Naja Lyberth, who is a psychologist, told the BBC in an earlier interview that he was 100% clear that the government had violated the law by “violating our human rights and causing serious damages”.

“Excuses are of course, and makes my clients happy. This is part of what they need,” said Mads Pramming, the lawyer representing women at the BBC.

“(What) We have heard nothing,” he added, “it is if they also admit or agree that they were a human rights violation.”

Greenland was a Danish colony until 1953 and did not obtain a rule at home before 1979, but Copenhagen continued to supervise the health system, before Greenland took responsibility in 1992.

Some cases of forced contraception also took place after this period, and until 2018, as previously pointed out in the BBC.

The Prime Minister of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said that his government had also recognized his own responsibility, but on Facebook, it was time for Denmark to have been officially apologized.

“For too long, the victims … have been reduced to silence to dead. It is sad that excuses come only now-it is too late and too bad,” he said.

“We cannot change what has happened. But we can assume responsibility for the fact that the truth comes out, and this responsibility is placed where it belongs. The upcoming investigation will show the full extent of attacks and will help ensure that this never happens.”

Put Frederiksen acknowledged that the case had provoked “anger and sadness for many Greenlanders and many families” and had damaged Denmark’s perceptions.

This case is one of the many controversies involving the Danish treatment of the Greenlanders, in particular forced adoptions, the abolition of the inits children of their family, and the legally without father, who have shaken relations between the territory of the Arctic and Copenhagen, and contributed to the calls for independence.

Greenland and Denmark agreed to investigate the coil scandal in 2022. At the time, Danish historian Soeren Rud told the BBC that the justification of politics was partly financial, but also the result of colonial attitudes.

After the tiny population of Greenland in the Second World War, and in 1970, it had almost doubled. Rud said Denmark wanted to limit population growth, adding that this reduced “the challenges of providing housing and well-being services”.

Aaja Chemnitz, a green deputy from the Danish Parliament, welcomed the apology and told the BBC that it was important for the Green and Danish company to finish the closure.

“These different cases that are not historical, but in fact present. These are people who live today, who have been affected by this.”

“We must also focus on the remuneration of women,” she continued. “Of course, we will examine the report. We will follow politically.”