Denmark - September 2025

On 24 September, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen issued a formal apology on behalf of Denmark for a past policy of forced contraception in Greenland, which was intended to lower the birth rate in the then Danish colony. This followed the creation of a reconciliation fund to compensate victims of the policy, as well as those who faced discrimination on the basis of their Inuit heritage. The apology comes after the release of an independent report revealing that an estimated 4,500 Greenlandic women were fitted with intrauterine devices (IUDs) without information or consent from 1960 to 1991. The practice disproportionately affected young women within the Inuit community, including girls as young as 12-14. 

Sources: New York Times, The Guardian (1), The Guardian (2), BBC, Le Monde, Danish Ministry of the Interior and Health