Denmark to issue new apologies to Greenland over adoptions

The Danish government plans to issue formal apologies to Greenlanders who were adopted to Denmark, as it considers recognition for those “in need of clarification and acknowledgment,” according to its policy platform.

Meanwhile, 75-year-old Margrete Johansen, who was adopted from her Greenlandic mother in 1951, is preparing to take the Danish state to court. Along with three others, she has sued for 250,000 kroner each in compensation, arguing that their adoptions violated human rights and that the state failed to protect them.

The case gained momentum after Greenland’s national day in 2024, when the group delivered a summons draft to the Prime Minister’s Office. This week, the Legal Aid Board confirmed the case has principle significance, allowing them to petition for a high court review.

Johansen said the compensation would help address the trauma passed down to her children and grandchildren. “I want to take them on a journey to reconnect with the part of their identity that lies here in Greenland, which they’ve never had the chance to know,” she told DR.

While the government may soon issue another official apology—following past ones, including for the so-called “experiment children” and the spiral case—Johansen said she has no personal need for one. “The apologies given so far haven’t meant much to me,” she said.

She expects the legal process to take years unless the state, as it did with the experiment children, opts for a settlement. The Social Ministry rejected the group’s compensation claim over a year ago.

A separate case involves 26 Greenlanders, including Klaus Frederiksen, suing the state for 125,000 kroner each over the denial of legal paternity rights. Known as the “juridically fatherless,” these individuals were born out of wedlock in Greenland before 1963 (West Greenland) or 1974 (North and East Greenland), when Danish law did not recognize paternal obligations. A 2014 legal change allowed them to claim paternity, but only if the estate remained unresolved. Frederiksen insists the group will not drop its demand for compensation.