Greenland’s forced contraception campaign violated women’s human rights but did not in itself meet the legal definition of genocide, according to two expert reports. The practices occurred mainly in the 1960s and 1970s.

At least 4,000 Greenlandic women and girls, some as young as 12, were given intrauterine devices or contraceptive injections between 1966 and 1991, often without their knowledge or consent. A joint Danish-Greenlandic inquiry found that the practice was intended to reduce birth rates and family sizes, which Danish authorities at the time viewed as a way to improve living standards and social and health conditions.

Documented consequences included heavy bleeding, serious infections, scarring of the fallopian tubes, removal of the uterus and the inability to have children.

The experts agreed that administering contraception without valid consent violated women’s right to private and family life and subjected them to degrading treatment in some cases, although the two reports differed over whether the practice was systemic.

Neither report concluded that the contraception campaign itself constituted genocide. One found no evidence that Danish authorities or health professionals intended to destroy the Greenlandic population, while the other said such an intent could not be established from the contraceptive practices alone.

The Greenlandic government plans to establish a reconciliation commission. Denmark on Thursday passed a law providing compensation of 300,000 Danish crowns ($46,758) to each affected woman.

(Reuters, bak)