Spiral case
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Short description|Greenlandic birth control program}}
The spiral case (also known as the coil campaign, coil case or IUD case; Danish: {{lang|da|spiralsagen}} or {{lang|da|spiralkampagnen}}) is an ongoing investigation into Danish physicians forcing birth control onto Greenlandic Inuit women during the 1960s and 1970s by placing intrauterine devices in thousands of Greenlandic Inuit girls and women, often without consent and under the direction of government officials. The program was created to prevent unplanned or unwanted pregnancies, lower costs, and control Greenland's birth rate. Several cases occurred after the responsibility of the health care system had been transferred to the Greenland government in 1991.{{cite news |title=Grønland har ansvar for 15 spiralsager |url=https://www.sermitsiaq.ag/samfund/gronland-har-ansvar-for-15-spiralsager/1292890 |access-date=20 October 2024 |publisher=Sermitsiaq}}
Greenlandic politicians Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam, Mimi Karlsen and former Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede have described the birth control campaign as genocide, and Greenland's Human Rights Council stated the campaign violated existing privacy regulations. In 2022, the Danish and Greenlandic governments agreed to hold a two-year investigation into the campaign, though some activists have spoken against the investigation's limited scope. In 2023, the investigation formally began, and 67 women sued the Danish government. The investigation is expected to conclude in 2025.
Involuntary fertility control program
Between around 1966 and 1975, thousands of Greenlandic Inuit girls and women had intrauterine devices (IUDs) inserted to prevent pregnancy under the direction of the Danish government and by Danish doctors.{{sfnm|1a1=Murray|1y=2022|2a1=Veirum|2y=2022}} Half of the 9,000 women in Greenland who could have children were given IUDs in the first five years of the program;{{sfn|Hivert|2022}} some of the affected girls were as young as 12,{{sfn|Murray|2022}} and in many cases, women (and in the case of girls, their parents) did not consent to the procedure.{{sfn|Veirum|2022}} For instance, Naja Lyberth was 13 or 14 years old, Elisibánguak' Jeremiasssen was 13,{{sfn|Platou|Hyldal|2022}} and Arnannguaq Poulsen was 16 and staying in Denmark when she received hers.{{sfnm|1a1=Møller|1y=2022|2a1=Murray|2y=2022}} All of the girls in Lyberth's class were told to have IUDs placed by a visiting doctor{{sfn|Møller|2022}} and then taken to a hospital for them to be inserted.{{sfn|DR|2022}} The purpose of the campaign was to prevent unplanned or unwanted pregnancies, lower childcare costs, and control the birth rate in Greenland.{{sfnm|1a1=Fuglsang Holm|1y=2022|2a1=Veirum|2y=2022}} Thousands of girls and women ultimately had IUDs placed without their consent during the campaign.{{sfn|DR|2022}} As a result, the birth rate in Greenland was halved in just a few years.{{sfn|Murray|2022}}
Portions of the campaign were unlawful.{{sfn|Møller|2022}} In Greenland, it was illegal for doctors to give girls contraception without parental consent until 1970; past 1970, it was against the law for doctors to place IUDs in girls, like Lybert, who were under 15 and had never been pregnant.{{sfn|Møller|2022}} Greenland only received autonomy in its healthcare in 1991.{{sfn|Kristensen|2022a}}
Investigations and reaction
File:Mimi Karlsen vid Nordiska Radets session 2011 i Kopenhamn.jpg (pictured in 2011), who argued the birth control campaign amounted to genocide.]]
In 2017, Naja Lyberth was among the first people to publicly discuss the spiral campaign; she wrote on Facebook about her experiences.{{sfn|Møller|2022}} In 2022, the podcast {{lang|da|Spiralkampagnen}} ("Spiral Campaign"), hosted by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation,{{sfn|Kristensen|2022a}} uncovered the campaign's records.{{sfn|Murray|2022}} Following the podcast's release that year, politicians and human rights organisations began calling for investigations; the party Naleraq wrote legislation to investigate.{{sfn|Kristensen|2022b}} On 2 June, the Inatsisartut (Greenlandic parliament) voted to demand that the Danish government investigate the history of the campaign.{{sfn|Jyllands-Posten|2022}} Later that year, the Danish and Greenlandic governments agreed to begin a two-year investigation.{{sfn|Kristensen|2022c}} It seeks to document the background of the birth control campaign; its implementation, including Greenlandic government involvement; the reasons the campaign began and continued; and other fertility control programs through 1991.{{sfnm|1a1=Murray|1y=2022|2a1=Kristensen|2y=2022c}} The investigation formally began in May 2023 and is scheduled for completion in May 2025.{{sfn|Kristensen|2023}} The investigators are all women from Greenland and Denmark.{{sfn|Kristensen|2023}}
The Inuit Ataqatigiit Minister of Health, Mimi Karlsen, asked women affected by the fertility control program to call Tusaannga, a social services and support hotline.{{sfn|Kristensen|2022a}} Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam, a Siumut member of the Folketing (Danish parliament) called the campaign genocide.{{sfn|Veirum|2022}} She stated that in the Danish desire to modernise Greenland, elevating the material conditions of its residents was too expensive, so the government instituted a program to commit genocide on the population.{{harvnb|Veirum|2022}}: "{{lang|da|blev staten også forpligtigtet til at modernisere Grønland og hæve velfærdsniveauet. Men da 'projektet' viste sig at være dyrt, besluttede den danske stat at begå folkemord blot for at spare på økonomien}}" [the state was also obligated to modernise Greenland and improve its welfare. But when the 'project' turned out to be expensive, the Danish state decided to commit genocide simply to save the economy]. Danish lawyer Mads Pramming likened the case to the Little Danes experiment, a 1951 Danish operation that resettled 22 Greenlandic children in Denmark.{{sfn|Hansen|2022}} Lyberth said in 2022 that the campaign stole her virginity, caused her pain, may have caused complications for her later in life, and continued to traumatise her into adulthood.{{sfn|Møller|2022}} According to Greenland's Human Rights Council, regulations regarding family life and privacy were violated.{{sfn|Murray|2022}}
Some activists have criticised the limited scope of the campaign, which extends only to 1991. In December 2022, BBC News noted that numerous women and girls allege that this campaign continued after 1991.{{sfn|Jung|2022}} Karlsen said in a BBC interview that she would forward allegations to the Greenlandic medical authorities to see if they are true and if they reflect widespread practises related to the spiral case.{{sfn|Jung|2022}} At least nine women have reported post-1991 nonconsensual IUD placements to the government; medical investigators found four operations occurred without consent (three had documented consent), eight of the nine cases allegedly happened after the year 2000, and most happened while the women were under anesthesia for induced abortions.{{sfn|Møller|2023}} Nivi Olsen, a Demokraatit member of the Inatsisartut, has called for the investigation to be broadened to include post-1991 birth control measures.{{sfn|Møller|2023}}
In October 2023, Lyberth and 66 other women sued the Danish government for DKK 300,000 each (approximately US${{Formatnum:{{to USD|300000|Denmark|round=yes}}}}).{{sfn|Koue|Møller|2023}} In March 2024, 143 women sued the Danish government and demanded 43 million kroner, in total.{{Cite web |date=2024-03-29 |title=Grønlands spiralkampanje: Oppfordrer dansk minister til å høre ofrenes historie |url=https://www.dagsavisen.no/nyheter/2024/03/29/gronlands-spiralkampanje-oppfordrer-dansk-minister-til-a-hore-ofrenes-historie/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=Dagsavisen |language=no}} In response to the investigation, Greenland's Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede accused Denmark of committing the crime of genocide in Greenland. {{Cite news |last=Bryant |first=Miranda |date=2025-01-06 |title=Danish king changes coat of arms amid row with Trump over Greenland |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/06/danish-king-changes-coat-of-arms-in-apparent-rebuke-to-donald-trump |access-date=2025-01-08 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}
In response to the allegation that the campaign amounted to genocide, spokesperson for the Conservative People's Party in Demark Rasmus Jarlov and Danish Social Liberal Party leader Martin Lidegaard have denied the accusation, both claiming that there was no concerted effort to exterminate Greenlandic Inuit.{{sfn|Møller|Sørensen|2024}} Trine Mach, a spokesperson for Red–Green Alliance, neither disputed nor endorsed calling the practice genocide, although she asked for Denmark to apologise for the practice.{{sfn|Møller|Sørensen|2024}} Among academics, the label of genocide is disputed; Danish jurist Frederik Harhoff argued that it may have been a crime against humanity or a human rights violation, but it did not amount to genocide, while colonial researcher Naja Graugaard Dyrendom argued that the practice was propelled by ethnic animus and should be investigated as a genocide.{{sfn|Møller|Sørensen|2024}}
See also
- Demographics of Greenland
- Godhavn inquiry – a 2011 Danish government inquiry into the conditions of children's homes between 1945 and 1976
- Little Danes experiment – 1951 forced relocation of Greenlandic Inuit children to Danish families
- Legally fatherless – Danish laws denying some Greenlandic children the right to inherit from their Danish fathers
References
=Citations=
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=Works cited=
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- {{cite news |last=Fuglsang Holm |first=Mads Malik |title=Chokerende beretninger afslører, at oprindelige kvinder i Canada stadig tvangssteriliseres |trans-title=Shocking accounts reveal Indigenous women in Canada are still being forcibly sterilized |work=Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa |url=https://knr.gl/da/nyheder/chokerende-beretninger-afsl%C3%B8rer-oprindelige-kvinder-i-canada-stadig-tvangssteriliseres |date=5 June 2022 |lang=da |access-date=12 November 2022}}
- {{cite news |last=Hansen |first=Nanna Nørby |title=Grønlandske politikere reagerer på spiralsag: 'Retten til egen krop er blevet fuldstændig overskredet i de her sager' |trans-title=Greenlandic politicians react to spiral case: 'The right to one's own body has been completely exceeded in these cases' |work=DR |url=https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/groenlandske-politikere-reagerer-paa-spiralsag-retten-til-egen-krop-er-blevet |date=15 May 2022 |lang=da |access-date=5 November 2022}}
- {{cite news |last=Hivert |first=Anne-Françoise |title=Denmark investigates Greenland forced IUD fitting scandal |work=Le Monde |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/m-le-mag/article/2022/07/14/denmark-to-open-inquiry-into-campaign-that-saw-women-in-greenland-fitted-with-iuds-without-consent_5990137_117.html |date=14 July 2022 |access-date=5 November 2022}}
- {{cite news |last=Jung |first=Elaine |title='Doctors fitted a contraceptive coil without my consent' |work=BBC News |date=8 December 2022 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63863088 |access-date=13 June 2023}}
- {{cite news |last1=Koue |first1=Mette |last2=Møller |first2=Eva-Marie |title=Grønlandske kvinder stævner staten: Vil have erstatning for spiralsagen |trans-title=Greenlandic women sue the state: Want compensation for the spiral case |work=DR |url=https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/groenlandske-kvinder-staevner-staten-vil-have-erstatning-spiralsagen |date=2 October 2023 |lang=da |access-date=2 November 2023}}
- {{cite news |last=Kristensen |first=Kassaaluk |title=Naalakkersuisut tager afstand fra spiralkampagnen |trans-title=Cabinet distances itself from the spiral campaign |work=Sermitsiaq |url=https://sermitsiaq.ag/naalakkersuisut-tager-afstand-spiralkampagnen |date=15 May 2022a |lang=da |access-date=5 November 2022}}
- {{cite news |last=Kristensen |first=Kassaaluk |title=Naleraq til Inatsisartut: Start arbejdet med at udrede spiralkampagnen |trans-title= Naleraq to Inatsisartut: Begin work on unraveling the spiral campaign |work=Sermitsiaq |url=https://sermitsiaq.ag/naleraq-inatsisartutstart-arbejdet-udrede-spiralkampagnen |date=17 May 2022b |lang=da |access-date=5 November 2022}}
- {{cite news |last=Kristensen |first=Kassaaluk |title=Spiralsagen: Disse forhold skal undersøges |trans-title=The spiral case: These conditions must be investigated |work=Sermitsiaq |url=https://sermitsiaq.ag/spiralsagenforhold-undersoeges |date=30 September 2022c |lang=da |access-date=5 November 2022}}
- {{cite news |last=Kristensen |first=Kassaaluk |title=Forskerteamet fundet: Udredning om spiralsagen sættes igang |trans-title=Research team is founded: Investigation into the spiral case has begun |work=Sermitsiaq |url=https://sermitsiaq.ag/forskerteamet-fundetudredning-spiralsagen-saettes-igang |date=30 May 2023 |lang=da |access-date=13 June 2023}}
- {{cite news |last=Møller |first=Ann-Sophie Greve |title=Naja Lyberth fik påtvunget spiral som 14-årig: Det føltes som om, at der var knive inden i mig |trans-title=Naja Lyberth had an IUD forced on her at the age of 14: It felt like there were knives inside me |work=Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa |url=https://knr.gl/da/nyheder/naja-lyberth-fik-p%C3%A5tvunget-spiral-som-14-%C3%A5rig-det-f%C3%B8ltes-som-om-der-var-knive-inden-i-mig |date=8 May 2022 |lang=da |access-date=12 November 2022}}
- {{cite news |last=Møller |first=Ann-Sophie Greve |title=Spiraludredning bør gå helt frem til i dag: Menneskerettigheder er overtrådt |trans-title=Spiral investigation should go until today: Human rights were violated |work=Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa |url=https://knr.gl/da/nyheder/spiraludredning-boer-gaa-helt-frem-til-i-dag-menneskerettigheder-er-overtraadt |date=25 September 2023 |lang=da |access-date=26 September 2023}}
- {{cite news |last1=Møller |first1=Ann-Sophie Greve |last2=Sørensen |first2=Helle Nørrelund |title=Danske politikere reagerer på udtalelse om folkedrab: 'Stadig lidt i chok' |trans-title=Danish politicians react to statement about genocide: 'Still a bit in shock' |work=Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa |url=https://knr.gl/da/nyheder/danske-politikere-reagerer-paa-udtalelse-om-folkedrab-stadig-lidt-i-chok |date=18 December 2024 |lang=da |access-date=10 January 2025}}
- {{cite news |last=Murray |first=Adrienne |title=Inuit Greenlanders demand answers over Danish birth control scandal |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63049387 |date=30 September 2022 |access-date=5 November 2022}}
- {{cite news |last1=Platou |first1=Karline |last2=Hyldal |first2=Christine |title=Elisibánguak' tænker ikke på erstatning men håber på undskyldning fra Danmark |trans-title=Elisibánguak' is not thinking about compensation but hopes for an apology from Denmark |work=Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa |url=https://knr.gl/da/nyheder/elisib%C3%A1nguak-t%C3%A6nker-ikke-p%C3%A5-erstatning-men-h%C3%A5ber-p%C3%A5-undskyldning-fra-danmark |date=10 August 2022 |lang=da |access-date=12 November 2022}}
- {{cite news |last=Veirum |first=Thomas Munk |title=Politiker: Spiral-kampagne var folkemord |trans-title=Politician: Spiral campaign was genocide |work=Sermitsiaq |url=https://sermitsiaq.ag/politikerspiral-kampagne-folkemord |date=10 May 2022 |lang=da |access-date=5 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601115821/https://www.sermitsiaq.ag/politikerspiral-kampagne-folkemord |archive-date=1 June 2022 |url-status=deviated}}
- {{cite news |title=Spiralkampagnen |trans-title=Spiral campaign |work=DR |url=https://www.dr.dk/nysgerrig/webfeature/spiralkampagne |date=7 May 2022 |lang=da |access-date=12 November 2022 |ref={{harvid|DR|2022}}}}
- {{cite news |title=Grønland beder Danmark undersøge gammel spiralkampagne |trans-title=Greenland asks Denmark to investigate old spiral campaign |work=Jyllands-Posten |agency=Ritzau |date=2 June 2022 |url=https://jyllands-posten.dk/indland/ECE14102615/groenland-beder-danmark-undersoege-gammel-spiralkampagne/ |access-date=5 November 2022 |ref={{harvid|Jyllands-Posten|2022}}}}
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Category:Compulsory sterilization of Indigenous peoples
Category:Denmark–Greenland relations
Category:Genocides in North America