Danish government asked to compensate Greenlandic women over birth control scandal

Denmark's government is being asked to pay compensation to a group of women in Greenland over an involuntary birth control campaign in the 1960s.

A lawyer representing a group of 67 women sent the claim to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's office on Monday, the Reuters news agency reported.

Some 4,500 women were fitted with intrauterine devices (IUDs) - or coils - under a programme to reduce the birth rate of Greenland's indigenous Inuit people.

A commission set up by the Danish and Greenlandic governments is investigating the scandal, but is not expected to publish its findings until May 2025.

As some of the women listed in the claim are within their 70s, the group want any compensation to be paid now. Each of the claimants are asking for 300,000 kroner (£34,880).

Danish broadcaster DR exposed the scale of the scandal last year in a podcast series titled Spiralkampagnen - translated into English as 'The spiral campaign'.

An estimated 35% of Greenlandic women who could have borne children were fitted with IUDs by the end of 1969, according to the broadcaster.

National archive records have revealed that IUDs were inserted into women - some aged only 13 - without their knowledge or consent between 1966 and 1970.

Until 1953, Greenland was a colonial territory of Denmark and has since existed as a semi-sovereign state.

Today, the country has its own flag and language, but Denmark retains control over some faculties, including its justice system and currency.

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