COPENHAGEN: Denmark has agreed to compensate about 4,500 Indigenous Greenlandic women and girls who were given contraception without their knowledge or consent by health authorities from 1960 to 1991.
Under the plan, eligible individuals can apply for a payout of 300,000 Danish kroner (around Rs 23 lakh) each, payable starting in April next year and available through June 2028. Health Minister Sophie Lohde called the forced contraception a “dark chapter” in shared history and acknowledged the ongoing physical and psychological harm experienced by victims. In many of the cases, young girls and women were fitted with intrauterine devices or given hormonal birth control injections without informed consent.
The agreement follows years of advocacy and investigations that uncovered extensive use of such practices, which affected thousands of Inuit women and girls across the semiautonomous Arctic territory. The alleged purpose of the drive was to limit population growth in Greenland by preventing pregnancies. The population on the Arctic island was rapidly increasing at the time because of better living conditions and better health care. Greenland took over its own health care programs on January 1, 1992.
The practice came to light after decades of complaints from affected women and investigations by Greenlandic authorities and advocacy groups. Critics have described it as a form of coercive population control that targeted Indigenous communities, reflecting a broader history of colonial-era policies that sought to assimilate Greenland’s Inuit population. The compensation plan is seen as a formal recognition of past abuses and an attempt to provide justice and closure for the victims while acknowledging the long-term impact on families and communities.
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