Greenland says findings on genocide allegation not final

Greenland's justice minister has said the government cannot conclude whether genocide was committed against the Inuit community after experts examined the use of forced contraception in the 1960s and 70s.

"We cannot say, on behalf of the government, whether there was genocide," Marianne Paviasen told reporters. "This is something we can continue to debate."

Two reports on the practice were released on Friday, a year after Denmark apologised for the treatment of Inuit women and girls in its autonomous territory.

Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said a "reconciliation commission" would be set up while Danish PM Mette Frederiksen promised the governments would work together.

Denmark has passed a compensation law to pay 300,000 Danish crowns (£34,404; $46,800) to each woman affected by the policy.

Records from the national archives show that, between 1966 and 1970, 4,500 Greenlandic women and girls, some as young as 13, had an intra-uterine device (IUD) implanted under a birth-control programme administered by Danish doctors.

In recent years, many women came forward to say they had been fitted with an IUD without their knowledge or consent.

Use of the birth control was so widespread that Greenland's population growth severely slowed.