The birth control program is believed to have targeted thousands of Indigenous girls and women in the Arctic Circle, dating back to the 1960s.
Trump pledges to “get Greenland” when direct flights begin from us
Direct flights from the US have begun as Trump vows to “acquire Greenland.” What kind of reception do Americans get?
Denmark and Greenland have formally apologized for their role in forced birth control programs that were believed to have targeted thousands of Indigenous girls and women in the Arctic region dating back to the 1960s.
The Danish government has previously apologised for various historical abuse and assimilation-related policies in Greenland. However, the September 24 apology in Greenland’s capital was first given at a ceremony before the victims of a Danish-run birth control program. Many people have become sterile.
“If we move forward, an apology is important,” said Naja Reibers, 63, who was among the women who heard the apology in Nuuk. Lyberth was one of the first Inuit Greenlanders to talk about what happened. Liberth received a standing ovation when she worked on the event.
The apology is because lawsuits brought by a group of 143 Greenland women seeking compensation for the program are now passing through Danish courts, and Danish territory is struck by the international spotlight, even annexing it, as it is a national security ground, as President Donald Trump is interested in putting more influence into Greenland.
“Dear woman. Dear family. Dear Greenland. There’s only one right thing to say to you today. Sorry,” Fredericksen told dozens of Greenlandic Inuit women in her speech in Nuke. In another statement released on September 21, Fredericksen said the Danish government will establish a settlement fund to compensate victims of programs that have affected as many as 4,500 women and girls.
The program lasted from the 1960s to the mid-1970s, and is believed to have influenced half of Greenland’s fertile women at the time. Danish urban planners wanted to limit the island’s population growth when the construction boom attracted many Danish workers and when Inuit was at a high birth rate. Today, around 90% of Greenland’s 56,562 inhabitants describe themselves as Inuit, the natives of the Arctic.
Many Greenlanders remain bitterly shocked and their treatment under Danish colonial rule, which officially ended in 1953, when Greenland became an autonomous organisation with foreign policy, defense and major economic decisions managed by Copenhagen. During colonial rule, Denmark, like Greenlandic elites, blocked the use of Greenlandic language. In 1951, 22 children were removed from the family and placed in a Danish home. This is an experiment aimed at converting it to the model “Little Danes.”
These episodes helped fuel demand for independence from Denmark, but polls show that the majority of Greenlanders don’t want to be part of the United States. Trump has repeatedly said “in some way,” and the US intends to “get” Greenland. He says the world’s largest island is important to US national security because of its location as a maritime gateway to North America and the wealth of minerals, including so-called rare earth metals, that drive everything from smartphones to advanced drones.
In one case, the 18-year-old Inuit Greenland woman was recently taken to Danish social authorities an hour after her birth in November 2024 and won a lawsuit to regain custody of her young daughter, placed in Foster Care.
Danish authorities determined Ivana Bronland was unable to ensure the happiness and development of her children and needed “a wide range of psychiatric and social support.” Bronland and her family argued that it was an unfair conclusion based on the sexual abuse that Bronland suffered as a child. Danish officials later admitted that the process of assessing Bronland’s case was flawed and reversed the ruling.
Bronland posted a short statement on Instagram on September 22, saying, “My heart will be whole again.”
