On August 28, Greenland plans to announce the findings of two long-awaited investigations, which should reveal how these actions are assessed from the perspective of human rights and international law.
The investigations also examine whether Denmark’s actions could meet the legal definition of genocide.
An intrauterine device is a long-term contraceptive inserted into the uterus to prevent pregnancy. Greenlandic women and girls were mass-inserted with them during the 1970s, in a campaign led by Denmark.
Denmark administered Greenland’s healthcare system until 1992. In 2024, Greenland’s self-government requested independent experts to investigate whether the Danish state violated international law and whether its actions could be considered genocide.
At that time, Greenland’s authorities emphasized the need not only to clarify all the facts but also to assess how the trauma caused by the so-called Contraception Case affected several generations of society.
The investigations will not determine legal liability
On Friday, August 28, the planned findings will not in themselves establish legally binding responsibility. However, according to legal experts, they may encourage further political decisions.
Sune Klinge, associate professor of constitutional law at the University of Copenhagen, stated that the investigation reports will not have direct legal force but, based on their findings, political actions may be taken.
Some experts doubt whether this case will meet the legal threshold for genocide. International law expert and former United Nations tribunal judge Frederik Harhoff states that to establish genocide, it is necessary to prove a specific intent to destroy a particular group of people.
In his assessment, such intent would be difficult to justify in this case. Moreover, criminal liability for genocide can only be determined by a competent court, not by a publicly released expert report.
However, the investigations may identify other violations of international human rights or indigenous rights. Such findings could influence further political and legal decisions as well as actions by the affected women themselves.
Why are two reports being prepared?
Initially, Greenland commissioned the investigation to a group of four experts. However, later its members diverged due to professional differences in approach to the investigation, so instead of one, two separate reports will be published.
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Greenland’s authorities indicated that the methodology and academic standards of both investigations were evaluated by external experts. However, it is not disclosed whether the disagreements were only about working methods or if the investigators’ conclusions also diverged.
The latest investigation is not the same as the previous joint historical report by Denmark and Greenland, published in September 2025. It reconstructed the course of the contraception program and examined how it was implemented. After that investigation, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen publicly apologized to the affected women.
The reports now being prepared should answer another question – how the measures applied at that time should be assessed according to human rights and international law standards.
40,000 euros for affected women
The timing of the investigations’ publication has been criticized. The Danish parliament is expected to vote on compensation for affected women on August 27, just one day before the reports are presented.
Under the proposed compensation system, women who meet the criteria and had contraception applied without their consent at the time when Denmark was responsible for Greenland’s healthcare would receive 300,000 Danish kroner – about 40,000 euros.
The investigation reports were handed over to Greenland’s authorities as early as February, but their publication was postponed while the documents were translated, reviewed, and prepared for release.
One of the experts who conducted the investigation, Jonas Christoffersen, urged that the findings be published before the Danish parliament’s vote. In his opinion, it is democratically questionable to pass a law without parliamentarians knowing what the independent experts have established.
F. Harhoff also called the decision to vote without waiting for the reports a mistake. However, he said the compensation system would not prevent affected Greenlandic women from taking additional legal action if the investigations revealed broader human rights violations or Danish responsibility.
Denmark’s Minister of Health Ida Auken explained that the government did not want to further delay the compensation process because the affected women had waited long enough for answers.
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