Greenland experts split on whether Denmark’s forced IUDs were genocide

Greenland's government said it cannot conclude whether genocide was committed through forced contraception.

Two expert reports on the forced-contraception campaign were released on Friday.

Greenland will set up a reconciliation or truth commission.

Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the commission should uncover the truth toward reconciliation rather than assign blame.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Denmark will handle the political process together with Greenland.

Denmark approved compensation of 300,000 Danish kroner to each woman affected.

Denmark apologised last year for the treatment of Greenlandic women and girls.

Frederiksen described the treatment as systematic discrimination.

About half of Greenlandic women of childbearing age at the time received IUDs.

Many were given IUDs or injections without their knowledge or consent.

The campaign ran from the 1960s into the early 1990s.

The campaign was intended to reduce birth rates or limit population growth in Greenland.

Danish authorities at the time viewed smaller families as a way to improve living standards and social and health conditions.

Some victims suffered serious infections, scarring of the fallopian tubes, or removal of the uterus.

Some of the women were later unable to have children.

Greenland tasked a four-member expert panel in 2024 to examine rights violations and whether they met the definition of genocide.

The panel split, with two members resigning and producing a separate report.

The remaining experts were Alaskan lawyer Dalee Sambo Dorough and University of Copenhagen law professor Miriam Cullen.

The experts found the campaign violated Inuit women's rights.

Dorough and Cullen said they could not conclude genocide had taken place on the basis of contraceptive practices alone.

Dorough and Cullen said genocidal intent by Denmark remains a possible inference a court might establish.

The remaining experts said a full genocide finding would also need other alleged practices against Inuit children and families, including removals and adoptions.

The rival report was written by Jonas Christoffersen and psychologist Jensine Nedergaard.

Christoffersen is a former head of the Danish Institute for Human Rights.

Christoffersen and Nedergaard found no evidence that any authority or health professional intended to destroy the Greenlandic population.

The rejected report stated there was no genocide.

The rival report said the extent of the women's mistreatment could not be established.

Greenland accepted one report and said a peer review found the other did not meet scientific standards.

The UN Genocide Convention includes imposing measures intended to prevent births within a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.

Greenland's Siumut party said the genocide question should be settled by a competent independent international court.

Henriette Berthelsen said no Greenlandic Inuit were appointed as experts.

Inger Platou, 70, said she woke from a supposed minor operation to find an IUD had been inserted without her consent.

Platou said they wanted to stop women from giving birth or having children.

Platou said a doctor later told her coil complications had left her unable to become pregnant.

Greenland took over its own healthcare system in 1992.

Greenland is a self-governing or semi-sovereign territory of Denmark.

U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing to control or take over Greenland.

Women came forward saying they had been fitted with IUDs without knowledge or consent.

Greenland's population was rising at the time because of better living conditions and health care.