UN experts call on Denmark and Greenland to ensure accountability — The Hindu
UN human rights experts on October 7 called on Denmark and Greenland to ensure accountability and place the rights of Inuit women at the center of the response to the forced contraception case in Greenland. It concerns a campaign in which thousands of Inuit women and girls were fitted with intrauterine contraceptive devices without their consent.
As The Hindu reports, the experts said that attempts to downplay the violations or exempt those responsible from accountability undermine survivors' right to redress. In their view, effective legal protection must be based on factual documents and the experiences of the women themselves.
Forced contraception campaign
From the 1960s to the 1990s, Danish doctors, acting on the instructions of Danish officials, fitted thousands of Inuit women and girls in Greenland with intrauterine devices, often without their consent. According to the source, the campaign aimed to control birth rates on the island, and more than 4,000 women and girls suffered its consequences.
Those affected included underage schoolgirls: teachers took them out of classrooms for the procedure without the consent of the girls themselves or their parents. The program was called the “Spiral Campaign.” Its scale became known after an investigation by the Spiralkampagnen podcast in 2022. Since then, numerous women have spoken about their experiences, and 142 of them have filed claims with Danish courts. According to reports, some women faced infertility or severe complications while trying to become pregnant.
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Apologies and compensation
In 2025, the Danish government officially apologized, acknowledging systematic discrimination as well as the physical and psychological harm inflicted on women. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that the country cannot change the past, but can take responsibility for it. Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen separately apologized for cases that occurred after the healthcare system came under Greenland's responsibility.
In August 2026, Denmark's parliament passed a law providing for a one-time compensation payment of 300,000 Danish kroner for women who underwent contraception without consent or without sufficient consent in Greenland or Denmark in 1960–1991. Applications are accepted from July 1, 2026, to September 1, 2028, and medical records are not mandatory.
Debate over genocide
In 2024, Greenlandic authorities tasked experts with assessing possible violations of human rights and the rights of Indigenous peoples, as well as determining whether they meet the definition of genocide. Two experts concluded that the rights of Inuit women had been violated, but were unable to establish genocide based solely on the contraception practice.
Another report acknowledged that women had been harmed, but found no evidence of intent by authorities or medical professionals to destroy Greenland's population. Greenland's Justice Minister Marianne Paviaasen said that the government currently cannot definitively determine whether genocide was committed against the Inuit community.
