Danish High Court Finds Authorities Violated Indigenous Rights in 2024 Removal of Greenlandic Woman’s Newborn

The Western High Court ruled that Danish authorities acted illegally when they removed Keira Alexandra Kronvold's newborn daughter hours after birth following controversial FKU parental competence psychometric tests. The court determined the removal breached Kronvold’s fundamental legal rights under the International Labour Organization Indigenous and tribal peoples convention of 1989, which Denmark ratified in 1996.

It further found the FKU tests used to justify the decision were outdated.

Zammi was taken from Kronvold when she was two hours old and placed in foster care in November 2024. She is now 18 months old and living with a Danish foster family. The ruling, issued on or immediately before 2026-05-08, will not directly lead to reunification because Kronvold has since been reassessed under a new system.

The Danish government banned the FKU tests on people with Greenlandic backgrounds in May 2025. Dozens of Greenlandic parents living in Denmark remain separated from their children after undergoing the tests. This marks the first time the Danish high court has ruled on the matter and is expected to have substantial repercussions for Greenlandic parents and their separated children dating back as far as 1996.

Gert Dyrn, Kronvold’s lawyer, said the ruling had “great significance”. He stated: “When the state made this new law last year they recognised they were in breach of the convention on Indigenous peoples and maybe of the European convention on human rights, which – in my opinion – the ruling today confirmed.

” Dyrn said there may be other women who have not been examined again according to the new law and they will probably be able to use this ruling to get their decisions nullified.

He added that the ruling could be used by adult Greenlandic people who were removed from their parents as children to get an apology from the Danish state or compensation. The United Nations told Denmark that authorities’ treatment of Kronvold “may amount to ethnic discrimination”.

Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples, and the special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism wrote to the Danish government.

The UN officials said the decision to remove Kronvold’s children from her without consent “may be discriminatory and disproportionate”. Kronvold was told the FKU test was to see if she was “civilised enough”. She lost a case in a lower court to be reunited with her daughter earlier in the week of the high court ruling.

Her lawyers plan to take the lower court reunification case to the high court. After the ruling Kronvold said: “I feel so amazing, I’m having a hard time to describe with words. I am trying to calm myself down.

Greenlandic politician Qarsoq Høegh-Dam said Kronvold’s case was “the tip of the iceberg”. Denmark held a general election in March 2026. Parties have not yet formed a government following the March 2026 Danish general election.

In response to the UN letter the Danish ministry of social affairs said it was ready to “engage constructively on the matters referred to in your letter” and proposed a meeting to discuss the issues in person. The Danish ministry of social affairs and Thisted Kommune declined to comment.

A spokesperson for the National Social Appeals Board said: “Today we received the ruling in this specific case from the Western high court, which we will review in detail.

The Guardian reported these developments.