Denmark: IUD scandal in Greenland resolved?
Last week Denmark agreed to pay an amount equivalent to 40,000 euros in compensation to some 4,500 Greenlandic women who were fitted with contraceptive intrauterine devices [IUDs] without their knowledge or consent between 1960 and 1991. Two expert reports commissioned to assess whether this constituted genocide failed to reach a unanimous conclusion. Danish media discuss the implications of the IUD scandal.
Objective discussion needed
Berlingske hopes the situation will calm down now:
“It is good that the government is engaging in such a respectful dialogue. Reconciliation remains necessary, but in future the dialogue should be conducted in a less strident tone, and a line should be definitively drawn under the misguided debate about genocide.”
Foster shared understanding of the past
Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has proposed the creation of a reconciliation commission. Jyllands-Posten says it's a good idea:
“Such a commission can give the women in question and their families a voice, establish a full historical account and foster a shared understanding of the past as a basis for better relations between Greenland and Denmark in the future. This is far more valuable than pursuing legal proceedings, which are likely to end without a verdict and thus come to nothing.”
Free Greenlanders from victim role
Weekendavisen calls for integration based on equality:
“The past is full of transgressions committed with the best of intentions. ... Even in Denmark. Until as recently as 1967 children were meted out physical punishment at schools; homosexuality was still considered a mental illness in 1981. ... We Danes must help the Greenlanders to develop an alternative sense of identity if the Kingdom is to be preserved. They must feel that we are well-disposed towards them. That they make Denmark greater – and not primarily in the geographical sense. Let us include Greenland in the school curriculum; let us allow Greenlandic presenters and reality TV contestants on Danish television. ... We don't do the Greenlanders any favours by reinforcing their role as victims.”