Hingitaq 53 restored after US announcements

Due to the current political situation, where US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to annex Greenland, a number of initiators, led by Panigpak Daorana, have chosen to restore Hingitaq 53.

It is an association that represents the Inughuit people, who were forcibly relocated from their settlement Uummannaq, located in the current Pituffik Space Base, in May 1953.

According to Panigpak Daorana, the citizens of Qaanaaq and the surrounding settlements are concerned that there is a great risk that history will repeat itself, where the rights of the Inughuit are violated.

Call

Hingitaq 53 calls on the Danish state and the Greenland Self-Government not to forget the protection of the rights of the Inughuit.

- As the closest neighbors, we are naturally very concerned that the USA is increasing its military presence in Pituffik Space Base and possibly elsewhere in northwestern Greenland.

- The wound that arose after the forced relocation of the local citizens in 1953 from the current Pituffik Space Base has not yet healed. Inughuit have been abused in various respects, and we do not want history to repeat itself.

- We, the Inughuit in Qaanaaq and surrounding settlements, have therefore restored Hingitaq 53 in connection with the current political situation, and we call on the Danish state and the Greenland Home Rule Government to initiate measures to ensure our rights should the unthinkable happen, he says.

Amount too low

In 1996, Hingitaq 53 initiated a case with the Supreme Court, which in 2003 ruled that the forced relocation of the residents from Uummannaq in 1953 was an infringement of their economic rights and therefore had to be considered an expropriation. The affected Inughuit people were then awarded collective compensation of 500,000 kroner and individual compensation of 15,000 and 25,000 kroner, respectively, depending on the residents' age at the time of the forced relocation.

After the verdict, the Danish state reiterated an official apology to the Inughuit people for the way the relocation was carried out. Hingitaq 53 subsequently brought the case before the European Court of Human Rights, which, however, refused to hear the case in 2006 on the grounds that there had been no violation of the convention.

Hingitaq 53 writes in a press release that it is the responsibility of the Danish state under current conventions and the Constitution of the Kingdom of Denmark to ensure the survival of the Inughuit on a sustainable basis for hunting and trapping.

Panigpak Daorana believes that the compensation amount that the Supreme Court reached in 2003, which was on average around 17,000 kroner for each forcibly relocated person, was far too low and should be adjusted to a higher level.

- Inughuit are entitled to realistic compensation for the gradual further loss of hunting and trapping areas, which the Danish state has allowed for decades through expansions of the base area, which is gradually approaching the same size as Funen, says Panigpak Daorana.

According to him, Hingitaq 53 will therefore work to have the compensation case reopened at the European Court of Human Rights.