COPENHAGEN: Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will visit Denmark&#39;s autonomous territory, Greenland, on Wednesday to apologize in person to the victims of a forced contraception program that Copenhagen ran for more than three decades.&nbsp;&quot;It will be a very important moment for these women, obviously, but also for society as a whole,&quot; Aaja Chemnitz, an MP who represents Greenland in the Danish parliament, told AFP.&nbsp;&quot;It&#39;s a second step in the reconciliation process after first announcing the apology,&quot; in late August, she said.&nbsp;A special ceremony in Nuuk, Greenland&#39;s capital, was scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. (1500 GMT).&nbsp;From the late 1960s until 1992, Danish authorities forced around 4,500 Inuit women, around half of those of child-bearing age, to wear a contraceptive coil -- or intrauterine device (IUD) -- without their consent.&nbsp;The aim was to reduce the Inuit birth rate.&nbsp;Many of the women were left sterile, and almost all of them have suffered from physical or psychological problems.&nbsp;The scandal is one of several sensitive dossiers tainting Denmark&#39;s ties to Greenland, including forced adoptions and the forced removal of Greenlandic Inuit children from their families.&nbsp;Denmark has, over the past year, been keen to smooth over tensions with its strategically located, resource-rich Arctic territory, which US President Donald Trump has said he wants to take over for security reasons.&nbsp;At the end of August, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen presented a long-awaited apology to the victims of the forced contraception campaign in a written statement.&nbsp;On Monday, Frederiksen also announced the creation of a &quot;reconciliation fund&quot; to compensate the victims, as well as other Greenlanders who suffered discrimination because of their Inuit heritage.&nbsp;&quot;It&#39;s very good news because my clients are not satisfied with just an apology,&quot; said lawyer Mads Pramming, who represents around 150 of the victims who have sued the Danish state for violating their rights and sought financial compensation.&nbsp;&quot;The timing is good. She would not have been warmly welcomed if she hadn&#39;t suggested (the compensation) in advance,&quot; he told AFP.&nbsp;&#39;External pressure&#39;Chemnitz said the apology was a direct result of Trump&#39;s assertive statements about taking over Greenland.&nbsp;&quot;It&#39;s the external pressure, especially from the United States, that is forcing Denmark to increase its efforts,&quot; she said.&nbsp;&quot;I&#39;ve been an MP for 10 years and I&#39;ve never seen so much effort until now.&quot;&nbsp;Frederiksen has broken with the tradition of her predecessors, who insisted Denmark had no reason to apologize.&nbsp;&quot;In the past, the Danish prime ministers have always been extremely reluctant to acknowledge injustices committed in Greenland. They argued there was nothing to apologize for,&quot; said historian Astrid Andersen, a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies.&nbsp;The scandal came to light when one of the victims spoke out in the media several years ago about the trauma she experienced.&nbsp;A 2022 podcast series then revealed the full extent of the campaign.&nbsp;The Danish and Greenlandic governments agreed to launch an independent inquiry into the scandal, which was recently completed.&nbsp;&quot;At this point, it is important to many Greenlanders to mourn as a community and to have full recognition of this horrible thing that happened,&quot; Andersen said.&nbsp;A separate inquiry into the legal implications of the campaign is still underway.&nbsp;Its report, which is tasked with determining whether the Danish campaign constituted a &quot;genocide,&quot; is to be published in early 2026.

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Denmark, Greenland

Europe

A special ceremony in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, is set to begin at 2:00 pm (1500 GMT).

Articles tagged with "Inuit children"

Danish PM to apologize to victims of Greenland forced contraception