Greenland is set to establish a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate a decades-long birth control program targeting Indigenous Inuit girls and women. The decision comes after two expert reports reached different conclusions over whether the program could constitute genocide.

The Greenland government is preparing to establish a truth and reconciliation commission to examine a birth control program implemented for decades, particularly among Inuit women and girls.

Investigations have found that the program was intended to reduce birth rates and family sizes in Greenland. At the time, Danish authorities viewed the policy as a way to improve living standards as well as social and health conditions in the Arctic territory, which has a population of around 57,000.

Expert reports reach different conclusions

In 2024, the Greenland government appointed a four-member commission to investigate the program and its impact on women.

The investigation found that some women suffered serious infections, damage to their fallopian tubes or underwent hysterectomies. Some victims were later unable to have children.

Greenland’s Justice Minister Marianne Paviasen said experts had failed to reach a unanimous conclusion on whether the program amounted to genocide.

According to Paviasen, one report concluded that genocide had not occurred, while another said the scale of the violations could not be definitively established.

“We cannot say on behalf of the government whether it was genocide. It is something we can continue to discuss,” Paviasen told reporters.

Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the new reconciliation commission would focus on establishing the truth rather than assigning blame.

He said its purpose would be to uncover the facts and create the basis for genuine reconciliation.

“This is my body, my life”

Women affected by the program have questioned why no Greenlandic Inuit women were appointed as experts to investigate the painful history uncovered by the panel.

Henriette Berthelsen told AFP that the issue was not simply about history or politics.

“This is my body, my life and my right to self-determination,” she said.

She added that she was once again seeing other people investigating and defining what had been done to her and other Inuit women.

Seventy-year-old Inger Platou told Reuters that she had been told she was undergoing a minor medical procedure, only to discover after waking from surgery that an intrauterine device (IUD) had been inserted without her consent.

“It seems we were treated like animals,” she said, describing the effort to prevent women from becoming pregnant or having children without their consent as deeply inhumane.

Platou said complications caused by the IUD later left her unable to become pregnant.

Denmark apologizes and compensation approved

Denmark apologized last year for the program. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen described the policy as “systematic discrimination” against Greenlanders.

On Thursday, the Danish Parliament also approved a compensation framework under which women affected by the forced birth control campaign can seek up to 300,000 Danish kroner, approximately $46,758, each.

Greenland’s Siumut Party, however, called for the genocide question to be addressed by a competent and independent international court.

The party also highlighted the demographic consequences of the program, saying: “We could have been many more Greenlanders today.”

The new truth and reconciliation commission is expected to further examine the scale of the program, its impact on victims and the responsibility of authorities involved.

Source: Reuters, AFP