How is your lunch?

*Photograph by Hans Peter Kleemann

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Child abuse.

It’s not a subject most people want to talk about. And certainly not at the up-beat, pro-business Future Greenland conference, which brought about four hundred and fifty participants to Nuuk last week. There’s enormous interest in the future of Greenland. From long-time allies like the Americans, to the Brits and Europeans, to nearest neighbours Iceland, Denmark and the other Nordic States, and as far afield as China, everyone is vying for position as opportunities arise in rapidly changing times. Greenland wants to diversify its economy away from the fragile fisheries, and is expanding harbours, building new airports and extending the runways in Ilulissat and Nuuk.

In the midst of this industriousness, it’s sometimes easy to forget that Greenland has many social problems: urbanisation and loss of culture, alcoholism, domestic abuse, homelessness, joblessness. And child abuse.

The National Advocacy for Children’s Rights¹ in Greenland reported in 2016 that 27% of children in Greenland “are victims of neglect to some degree or to a large degree.” And one in four Greenlanders have been sexually abused, of which one in five were abused under the age of fifteen².

And it gets worse. Not only does Greenland have the most suicides per capita in the world, it has more than double the next-worst country. At times, in some towns, suicide has been the leading cause of death. And horrifyingly, children as young as ten years old have committed suicide in recent years.

While we might forget the depth of these problems from time to time, those we forget feel forgotten, particularly east Greenlanders. East Greenland is literally a world away from the bustling capital in West Greenland. Tasiilaq, east Greenland’s largest city, with just over 2,000 inhabitants, is a one and a half hour flight across the ice cap to Kulusuk and then a helicopter or boat connection. The journey costs about a thousand dollars return. And because East Greenlanders make up only about 5% of the population, they always have a very small representation in government, where their politicians are unable even to communicate in their own language. It’s easy to feel that noone is listening.

There’s much to be done to help those who have suffered and to prevent future suffering. And Future Greenland participants were given food for thought last week when two protesters, with their mouths taped shut, held the above placards against the windows of the Future Greenland conference venue at lunchtime, drawing attention to the children who need that help.

“How is your lunch?” they asked.

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¹MIO – National Advocacy for Children’s Rights, 2016. Parallel Report to The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) Greenland 2016 – MIO – Independent Children’s Rights Institution (ICRI).
²Pedersen C, Gohr C, Olesen I, 2014. Som ringe i vandet. Baselineundersøgelse – Befolkningens viden om og holdning til seksuelle over-greb. Bedre Børneliv, Nuuk.