The forced relocation of the Indigenous peoples of Thule and the possible upgrading of the Thule Radar in Greenland an the deployment of the National Missile Defence.

Under the shelter of the Cold War Denmark and the US signed an "Agreement concerning the defence of Greenland" April 27, 1951. By that time Greenland was a colony. Following the treaty US and Danish companies started the construction of the Thule Air Force Base in May 1951.

Early on the military was wary about the indigenous Inuit living nearby their old settlement, Uummannaq established as a colony named Thule by the famous explorer Knud Rasmussen in 1909.

In May 1953 the Danish authorities asked the inhabitants to move Northwards in an area that the Danes intended to establish as a new town the following summer. That happened only a few days before the Danish constitution in June 5, 1953 was ammended to include Greenland rewarding all inhabitants of Greenland citizenship in Denmark.

Almost fifty years later in August 1999 the Danish High Court ruled that the indigenous peoples of Thule, the "Inughuit" had indeed been forcibly relocated and the Court gave the ca. 80 remaining individuals a small amount of compensation - ca. US $ 3.000 and ca. US $ 50.000 in collective compensation for the 600 individuals who through their organisation "Hingitaq 53" (The Expelled of 1953) had brought their case to the courts.

The ruling was appealed and still pending at the Danish Supreme Court. The case will establish the indigenous peoples rights to the US occupation of their territory and their right to return to their ancestral land.

The "Hingitaq 53" has in an open letter Febrary 6, 2001 to the Danish Foreign Minister, Mogens Lykketoft and the Greenland Homerule Gvt. leader Jonathan Motzfeldt asked them to take into account that a Supreme Cort ruling excpected in 2002 might favor the rights of the Indigenous peoples of Thule and reward them the lost territory, thereby implicating the future use of the military base where the Fased Array Radar is placed.

While the danes have not reacted, the Greenland Gvt. leader declared yesterday that Greenland look at the question of NMD and the Supreme Court Case of Thule as separated.

However the case can not be separated to the future use of the Thule Air Base. In a comparable case in 1994/95 about the Danish constitution and the question of relegation of sovereignity, the Danish government decided to wait for the result of a Danish Supreme Court rulling before taking any steps concerning the EU Amsterdam Treaty.

The 1999 High Court ruling established the fact that the territory belonging to the indigenous peoples of Thule had been expropriated without proper legislation and compensation as required by the Danish constitution.

The case has been presented to the UN Human Rights Committe and has been sent to the ILO for consideration of its possible relation to the ILO Convention 169.

Inuit Circumpolar Conference supports the "Hingitaq 53" and wishes to inform the Global Network. It is our hope that you will support the request to await the Supreme Court ruling before any action is taken implicating the Thule Radar.

INUIT CIRCUMPOLAR CONFERENCE
HEAD OFFICE
Dr. Ingridsvej 1,
3900 Nuuk
GREENLAND

Phone + 299 32 36 32 Fax +299 32 30 01

E-mail: aqqaluk@inuit.org and iccgreenland@inuit org