Denmark has announced it will abandon the use of its controversial "parenting ability" test on Greenlandic families amid anger over the way the test is often used on people of Inuit background, often resulting in the separation of children from their parents.

Campaigners have been warning for years about the discriminatory impact of psychological tests used in Danish child protection investigations, known as FKU (for ældrekompetence undersøgelse). Human rights bodies have long criticized them as culturally inappropriate for Greenlanders and other ethnic minorities living in Denmark, which once ruled the Arctic island as a colony and continues to control its foreign and security policy.

The Danish government has announced it has agreed to stop using standardized psychological tests in cases involving children from families of Greenlandic background, amid weeks of tension between Copenhagen and Nuuk as Donald Trump vows to secure a self-governing territory for the United States.

"Questions have been raised about whether standardized psychological testing adequately takes into account Greenlandic culture and language," it said. “Therefore, the (Danish) government and the Greenlandic government have agreed to abolish the use of standardized psychological tests in cases of children from families of Greenlandic background when assessing parental competence.”

The announcement marks a major shift in testing policy, which came into a new focus late last year as the case of Keira Alexandra Kronvold, who gave birth just two hours after giving birth in November, became widely publicized. Just separate from your children. The move sparked widespread outrage and triggered a series of ongoing protests in Copenhagen and Nuuk.

Subsequently, Danish Minister of Social Affairs and Housing Sophie Hæstorp Andersen did not issue a ban, but only called on municipalities to "consider stopping the use of the criticized test".

However, last week she said the Danish government had listened to the "serious concerns" raised about the tests and had proposed an alternative, which would see the creation of a special unit with Greenlandic cultural expertise that would "assist municipalities in the future" Such situations.

The Danish Institute for Human Rights said in 2022 that because the tests did not take into account cultural differences, Greenlandic parents were at "risk of obtaining low test scores and therefore could conclude, for example, that they had reduced cognitive abilities, but there was no actual evidence of this" a little.

"Such potential miscarriages of justice can have profound consequences for children and parents because, in extreme cases, they can result in children being forcibly removed."

Louise Holker, director of the Danish Institute for Human Rights, said on Monday she welcomed the decision to scrap the tests, adding: "These tests fail to take into account language barriers and cultural differences and may be unfair to Greenlandic parents. assessment.”

Others have questioned the timing, with Trump declaring the acquisition of Greenland "absolutely necessary" for the United States and his son, Donald Trump Jr., conducting a flying visit to the territory.

"We are very surprised that they are suddenly able to change the law," said Aka Hansen, an Inuit filmmaker who has been organizing the protests. "This is long overdue and we need to ensure that the Inuit Special teams re-evaluate every case to ensure our children get a fair chance."

She questioned whether the announcement would have been made without Trump Jr.'s visit, adding: "If he wasn't here, I'm afraid nothing would have happened."

Since Trump's progress, Copenhagen has stepped up diplomacy with Washington and quickly changed its tone on Greenland.

In a televised debate between Denmark and Greenland on Sunday night, Greenland's Prime Minister Mutt Egede said the self-governing territory had "had enough" of being told it should thank Copenhagen for being a "good colonial master". He added that if Denmark had behaved better towards Greenlanders, perhaps they would not have discussed the island's future.

In response to the announcement to cancel the parenting test, Greenland’s Minister of Children, Youth, Education, Culture, Sports and Churches Aqqaluaq B Egede said: “I am very pleased that the Danish government agrees with Naalakkersuisut (the Greenlandic government).) It meets the sincere wishes of Naalakkersuisut and the people of Greenland. . Achieving our goal of discontinuing the use of psychological tests in the Danish Greenland Family Parenting Competency Test is a long-term process.”

He also said the Danish government had agreed to re-evaluate cases in which psychological testing may have led to the wrongful placement of Greenlandic children.

"Having a child removed from their home is one of the most intrusive things that can happen to a family," Hæstorp Andersen said in a statement. The Greenlandic government's response to cases involving children from families of Greenlandic background Serious concern.

"Our government has listened to this concern. We have now found a good and universal solution to replace the use of standardized psychological tests with special units with expertise in Greenlandic language and culture. I hope this solution will give Danish Greenlanders bring peace and security.”

The government said it would table the bill "as soon as possible" and planned to bring the new law into force "no later than May 1, 2025".