Copenhagen, Denmark – At the age of 13, Catherine Petersen was equipped with a birth control system by Danish doctors without her consent.
She has become pregnant, and after doctors in the town of Maniitsoq in Greenland, they have been imposed on her in the womb, known as the IUD, or the file.
Now 52 and live in DenmarkPetersen recalled that she was equipped with the device before leaving the hospital.
“Because of my age, I did not know what to do,” she said with tears. “I kept inside me and never talked about it.”
Petersen said that her shock led to “anger, depression and a lot of drinking”, and she suppressed the memories of her experiences and did not talk about her with doctors.
Later in life, after she got married, she was unable to have children.
At a party in Greenland The capital of Nok on Wednesday, Danish Prime Minister Metty Friedrixen And its counterpart in Greenland Jens-Frederik Nielsen They will offer their official apologies for the roles of their governments in the mistreatment of girls and women from the indigenous people who have received invasive contraceptives by the Danish health authorities against their will, with issues dating back to the 1960s.
“We cannot change what happened, but we can take responsibility and we can create the terms of reconciliation with the past,” Friedrixen said in a statement issued on Monday.
Last month, Denmark and Greenland have already apologized For their roles in the ill -treatment of women and girls before publishing an independent investigation into ill -treatment.
The event comes in a difficult time with US President Donald Trump to exploit the departments between Denmark and Greenland as it is We seek influenceuntil Jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, Denmark sought to put the independence movement in Greenland, but the historical violations committed by the previous colonial authority have contaminated its efforts.
Greenland, It is still part of the Danish world, It was a colony under the crown of Denmark until 1953, when it became a boycott in the Scandinavian country. In 1979, Al -Jazeera was awarded a ruling on its soil, after 30 years Greenland has become a self -entity.
The forced contraceptives of indigenous women and girls were part of the centuries of Danish policies that have been stripped of Greenland and their families.
Policies included the removal of the children of the youth of young people from their parents who will be granted to the Danish nursery families to receive education and the controversial parental competence tests that led to the forced separation of green families.
and Independent investigation, published earlier this monthInete victims, about 12 years old and younger, were found either with IUDS or were given injecting hormonal offspring. They were not informed of the details about this procedure, and they did not grant their approval.
Some described the painful experiences that left them with feelings of shame as well as physical side effects, from pain and bleeding to serious infections.
While the report covered the experiences of 354 women who spoke with the investigators, the Danish authorities say more than 4000 women and girls – it is said that half of the fertile women in Greenland at the time – are said to be at that time – The IUD was received between the sixties and the mid -seventies. The number of those cases that lack approval is not known.
“Of course, I am thinking about all the women who were treated as I were,” said Petersen, who was removed by the IUD earlier this year. “I feel with my fellow women from this episode of our lives.”
The alleged purpose of forced contraceptives was to reduce population growth in Greenland by preventing pregnancy. The population of the Arctic Island was rapidly increasing at the time due to better living conditions and better health care. Greenland took over her health care programs in 1992.
Kirsten Pearscsen, 66, who is now living in Copenhagen, will attend Wednesday in Nock. She believes that she was fourteen years old when she was brilliantly equipped in Greenland. You remember that he was taken to the hospital, but it is not given a reason. Later, you remember that she was in “endless pain.”
At the thirty -three years old, she gave birth to a son, but she believes that subsequent failed pregnancy was the result of complications caused by contraceptives.
“Of course, I am angry at the Danish state because of this act,” said Birshason, “said Birshason,” she was filling a bag for her trip to Greenland. “I wanted to join, so I booked one -way ticket to Nuk.”
For BERTHELSEN, now a retired, the official apology comes in “the right time”.
She said, “I am ready for reconciliation, because it will help me.” “Personally, it will be a big event for me, and I am sure it will reduce.”