The story so far: United Nations (UN) human rights experts on October 7, 2026, urged Denmark and Greenland to ensure accountability and the rights of Inuit women at the centre of their response to a forced contraception case in Greenland.
“Attempts to minimise or exonerate responsibility for wrongdoing and injustices undermine redress for victims because true and effective remedy should be based on factual records and the lived experiences of victims”, the experts said.
The scale of the birth-control programme was first brought to light reportedly in 2022, by an investigative podcast called ‘Spiralkampagnen’ – the coil campaign. After 1953, Greenland became a county of Denmark. In 1979, it gained autonomy, and in 2009, its powers were expanded to include all areas except international relations and defence. In 2024, the then government in Nuuk tasked three legal experts and one psychologist with establishing whether there have been violations of human rights and the rights of Indigenous peoples, and whether these violations met the definition of genocide.
Therefore, on behalf of Denmark, I would like to say: Sorry,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said. Many women with these intrauterine devices grew up to be infertile or developed serious complications while trying to conceive. As per reports, the practice only became public when Inuit women, now in their sixties and seventies, began speaking to the media. “We cannot change what has happened. But we can take responsibility. Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen separately apologised for cases that occurred after Greenland assumed responsibility for the healthcare system. United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump, in a recent statement, claimed that the U.S. needs to control Greenland for security reasons and suggested the use of force or economic pressure to achieve this goal.
It was called “Spiral Campaign”. “Spiral” or “coil” are the everyday terms used for the IUD, originating from its historical loop shape. In 2025, the Danish government issued an official apology, acknowledging the “systematic discrimination” that occurred during the contraceptive campaign and recognising these women had “experienced both physical and psychological harm.
Since then, numerous women have come forward to share their story, with a hundred and forty-two of them taking their claims to the Danish domestic courts.
The panel split during its work, with two members resigning and submitting a separate report. The two experts who remained, Alaskan lawyer Dalee Sambo Dorough and University of Copenhagen law professor Miriam Cullen, found in their report that the rights of Inuit women in Greenland had been violated.
But they said that they could not conclude that genocide had taken place “on the basis of contraceptive practices alone”.
