An Inuit woman stands with her back towards Denmark's Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, left, as she talks during a meeting in a cultural center in Nuuk, Greenland, on Sept. 24, 2025.

Denmark and Greenland formally apologized for their role in a forced contraception program believed to have targeted thousands of Indigenous girls and women in the Arctic territory dating back to the 1960s.

The Danish government has previously apologized for various historical abuses and assimilation-related policies in Greenland. But the Sept. 24 apology in Greenland's capital Nuuk was the first to take place in a ceremony in front of victims of a contraception program run by Denmark – which rules the island – that involved fitting girls as young as 12 with painful intrauterine devices without their knowledge or consent. Many ended up sterile.

"If we are to move forward, the apology is crucial," said Naja Lyberth, 63, who was among the women who listened to the apology in Nuuk. Lyberth was one of the first of the Inuit Greenlanders to speak out about what happened. Lyberth received a standing ovation as she addressed the event.

The apology comes as a lawsuit brought by a group of 143 Greenlandic women demanding compensation for the program wends its way through Danish courts, and as the Danish territory has been catapulted into the international spotlight because of President Donald Trump's interest in exerting more influence over Greenland, perhaps even annexing it, for what he says are national security reasons.

"Dear women. Dear families. Dear Greenland. Today, there is only one right thing to say to you. Sorry," Frederiksen told dozens of Greenlandic Inuit women in her address in Nuuk. In a separate statement, released on Sept. 21, Frederiksen said that the Danish government planned to establish a reconciliation fund to compensate victims of a program that impacted as many as 4,500 women and girls.

The program lasted from the 1960s to the mid-1970s and is thought to have affected half of the fertile women in Greenland at the time. Denmark's city planners wanted to limit the island's population growth at a time when a construction boom attracted many Danish workers and led to a high Inuit birth rate. Today, about 90% of Greenland's 56,562 inhabitants describe themselves as Inuit, a people indigenous to Arctic regions.

Many Greenlanders remain shocked and bitter about their treatment under Danish colonial rule, which formally ended in 1953, when Greenland became a self-governing entity with foreign policy, defense and major economic decisions controlled by Copenhagen. During colonial rule, Denmark discouraged the use of the Greenlandic language, as did some Greenlandic elites. In 1951, its government removed 22 children from their families and put them in Danish homes, an experiment aimed at turning them into model "Little Danes."

These episodes have helped fuel calls for independence from Denmark, though polls show the vast majority of Greenlanders do not want to become part of the United States. Trump has repeatedly said that "one way or the other," the United States intends to “get” Greenland. He has said the world's largest island is crucial for U.S. national security due to its location as a maritime gateway to North America and its mineral wealth, including so-called rare earth metals that power everything from smartphones to advanced drones.

In one case that illustrates some of the tensions between Denmark and its vast Arctic territory, an 18-year-old Inuit Greenlandic woman recently won her appeal to regain custody of her infant daughter, who was taken by Danish social authorities and placed in foster care an hour after her birth in November 2024.

Denmark's authorities had ruled that Ivana Bronlund was not able to ensure her child’s well-being and development and that she needed "extensive psychiatric and social support." Bronlund and her family argued that that was an unfair conclusion based on sexual abuse Bronlund had suffered as a child. Danish officials later admitted the process of evaluating Bronlund's case was flawed and overturned the ruling.

Bronlund posted a short statement on Instagram on Sept. 22, saying "my heart is whole again."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Dear women. Dear families.' Denmark apologizes for forced Greenland contraception program

Reporting by Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect