Greenland protests against Danish budget cuts

Greenland’s Atuagagdliutit newspaper reports the North Atlantic Group of Members of the Danish parliament, that is, the members elected from the Faroe Islands and Greenland, are taking a stand against the new Danish government’s proposal for a bare-bones budget.

The group recently sent proposed amendments to Denmark’s finance minister Thor Petersen, which include a request for an additional $300,000 for the Inuit Circumpolar Conference so it can participate in the ICC general meeting in Kuujjuaq, as well as an increase of $250,000 to ICC’s operating budget over four years.

The group also asked for more economic support for the Greenlandic Houses in Denmark, which provide social services for the 10,000 or so Greenlanders who live in Denmark.

The MPs expressed their opposition to the proposed cuts for international development work.

“The Danish government’s proposal has become a matter of serious concern, not only for non-governmental organizations in Denmark and Greenland working with the rights of indigenous peoples, but also among representatives of the world’s indigenous peoples and groups,” said Kuupik Kleist, one of Greenland’s two MPs elected to the Danish parliament in November.

Kleist said the cuts may also hurt the United Nation’s new Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples and the World Declaration of Indigenous Peoples Rights.