Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has apologised for the first time for the forced contraception scandal in which thousands of Greenlandic girls and women were fitted with contraceptive coils without their permission or knowledge.
Describing it as “systemic discrimination” against women and girls by the Danish healthcare system, Frederiksen said that because they were Greenlandic they were subjected to “both physical and psychological harm”.
Some of the women were as young as 12 when they say they were fitted with an intrauterine device (IUD) by Danish doctors in an attempt to reduce the population of Greenland, which until 1953 was a Danish colony and only gained control of its own healthcare system in 1992.
It is believed that 4,500 women and girls were affected between 1966 and 1970. Greenland’s former prime minister, Múte B Egede, has described the IUD scandal as a “genocide”.
Denmark’s apology for cases up to 1992 – made in a joint statement with the Greenland prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, who apologised for cases after that date – comes ahead of the publication of a long-awaited investigation into the IUD case, which is expected to be published in September.
Separately, 143 Greenlandic women last year sued the Danish state for 43m Danish kroner, alleging they were fitted with the contraceptive coil without their consent or knowledge in what they describe as a violation of their human rights.
Frederiksen said: “Even though we do not have the full picture, it makes a great impression on the government that so many Greenlandic women unanimously report that they have been subjected to abuse by the Danish healthcare system.
“We cannot change what has happened. But we can take responsibility. Therefore, on behalf of Denmark, I would like to say: Sorry.”
She added: “I apologise to the girls and women who have been subjected to systemic discrimination. Because they are Greenlanders. For experiencing both physical and psychological harm. For being let down.”
Nielsen said that on behalf of his government he apologised “for the harm and abuse that may have been inflicted on several women after we took over responsibility for our healthcare system.” His government, he said, has been working on a compensation scheme for the affected women since January and an announcement on how to apply will be made soon.
Naaja H Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister for justice and gender equality, said: “An apology is only fitting and I believe it was unavoidable in order to move forward on a path of healing. So I am very pleased by the apology but I also couldn’t see any way around it.
“The apology is directed at the girls and women who were on the receiving end of an unacceptable practice with a clear colonialist profile. I also believe a compensation is in place from the danish state.”
Aaja Chemnitz, a member of the Danish parliament for the Greenlandic party Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), said she was elated by the outcome, which she has been campaigning for for a long time. “An apology is important for a renewed relation between Greenland and Denmark,” she said. “What a joy.”
Bula Larsen, one of the group of women who have sued the government for their historic mistreatment, said she was “very pleased” to finally receive an apology. “It gives me peace in my mind to finally close this dark chapter in my life,” she told the Guardian.
Larsen, who is now 66, was 14 when she was told by the head of her dorm in Paamiut, Greenland, to go to the hospital without explanation. She has told how she remembers the shock and “tremendous pain” when a doctor forcibly fitted her with an IUD.
The experience, she has previously said, felt like an assault. The pain was such that afterwards she said it felt as if she had “shattered glass in my abdomen”. As an adult, after she got married and tried to get pregnant, she found out she had been left sterile by the procedure.
But some questioned the timing of her apology, which came hours after Denmark summoned the US charge d’affaires for an urgent meeting over an alleged influence campaign in Greenland aimed at shaping public opinion and the future of the Arctic territory.
The government has previously said it will wait until the outcome of the investigation before it issued an apology.
But Denmark, Frederiksen said on Wednesday, recognises that the case is “a source of both anger and sadness for many Greenlanders and many families in Greenland. And it naturally has an impact on the perception of Denmark and the realm.”
The government expects to receive the findings of the investigation into the scandal soon, she said, after which the governments of Denmark and Greenland will work together to “learn from and deal with the concrete consequences of the dark chapters in our shared history”. She said this would also cover “possible financial compensation” for victims of the IUD scandal and “other specific cases”.
She said: “This is very important work. We must become more knowledgable about our common past. Not because we can change it. But because we must acknowledge it. And learn from it.”
She also referred to “other dark chapters that deal with systemic discrimination against Greenlanders. Because they were Greenlanders” from Denmark’s colonial past. “My apology on behalf of Denmark is also an apology for these other failures for which Denmark is responsible,” she added. “Where Greenlanders have been systemically treated differently and inferiorly than other citizens of the kingdom.”
There is also an expert group that has been requested by the government of Greenland to look into possible human rights violations in connection to the IUD scandal. This is due to be finalised in January.
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