They were subjected to a campaign of forced contraception, without their consent or that of their families.

For this reason, 67 women born in Greenland are today asking the Danish state for compensation: 300,000 crowns, the equivalent of approximately 40,200 euros each.

The facts date back to the period between the 1960s and 1970s when Denmark implemented a contraceptive policy to limit the birth rate in the Arctic territory which, although it was no longer a colony since 1953, remained under the control of Copenhagen. According to what emerged, at least 4,500 Inuit girls and boys are being targeted.

The Copenhagen plan was precisely to reduce births among indigenous populations and thus save on welfare.

A series of podcasts based on the national archives and broadcast in spring 2022 by Danish radio and television Dr revealed the extent of this campaign, the «Danish coil campaign», at a time when Denmark and Greenland, which has acquired autonomous territory status in 2009, are arguing over their past relationships.

Among the victims of that campaign was Naja Lyberth: at 13 years old, during a routine medical examination at school, the doctor ordered her to go to the hospital where the spiral was applied. “I had no idea what it was, because the doctor didn't explain anything to me or ask my permission,” he recalls today. «I was scared, but I couldn't tell my parents. I had never even given a boy a kiss."

A commission of inquiry was launched last year and is expected to publish its findings in 2025.

“We don't want to wait for the results of the investigation,” said Lyberth, now a psychologist, who initiated the compensation request. "We are getting older - she then explained - the oldest among us, who had the spiral in the 60s, were born in the 40s and are approaching 80".

(Unioneonline/D)

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