Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 11 months ago

Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com

Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English

Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en

Category

🗞
News
Transcript
00:01For the Danish Prime Minister, it's a second step in the reconciliation process.
00:06Between Denmark and the women in Greenland, they forced to undergo contraception.
00:11Now, she's apologising in person.
00:14Today, there is only one right thing to say to you.
00:18Sorry. Sorry for the injustice that was committed against you because you were Greenlanders.
00:25Sorry for what was taken from you and for the pain it caused.
00:30On behalf of Denmark, sorry.
00:34Mehta Fredriksson has broken with the tradition of her predecessors,
00:38who insisted Denmark had no reason to apologise,
00:41and said it's an important marking of a dark chapter in our shared history.
00:46For decades from the 1960s,
00:48Danish authorities forced around half of Inuit women of childbearing age
00:52to wear a contraceptive coil, or IUD, without their consent.
00:56The aim was to limit Greenland's Inuit population growth.
01:00Many developed physical or psychological problems as a result,
01:04or, like Katrine, were left sterile.
01:08Of course, I'm thinking about all the women who were treated like I was,
01:16who were also without children.
01:18But I'm grateful that they admit what they did,
01:20that they made a mistake and accepted to apologise.
01:24Denmark has announced the creation of a reconciliation fund to compensate the victims,
01:30as well as other Greenlanders who suffered discrimination because of their Inuit heritage.
01:36The scandal is one of several tainting Denmark's ties to Greenland,
01:40including forced adoptions and removal of Inuit children from their families.
01:44Reconciliation efforts have stepped up,
01:47as Donald Trump has tried to exploit divisions between Denmark and Greenland,
01:51the mineral-rich territory he has said he wants to take over.
Comments

Recommended