Could a drive for positioning and natural resources in the Arctic threaten Greenlandic women's rights? Tillie Martinussen responds

A push from United States President Donald Trump to acquire Greenland stands to impact the lives of Indigenous women and girls as well as the environment of Kalaallit Nunaat. While the administration has more recently cited its need to address contested national security concerns as a motive, there has also been speculation that a desire for natural resources could be a part of its strategy. 

"Definitely a widespread speculation here and also my concern," Tillie Martinussen told Climate, Gendered via WhatsApp from the territory's capital of Nuuk. "I feel like he might want to do this land grab (or "piece of ice" grab) just to line his pocket."

Martinussen, a former member of Greenland's parliament and "#ProudInuk" according to her Instagram profile, recently went viral when she condemned the Trump administration's efforts to secure governance of the autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. 

In a mid-January video from news agency Viory, now with tens of thousands of views across multiple channels and platforms, Martinussen said, "You cannot even own land in Greenland. You can get an allotment for your house, and then you own the house on top of the land, but Greenlanders don't believe in the land is for one person. It's for everyone. ... So it's a big miscalculation that he thinks that Greenlanders would be incited by cash or something like that."

Trump began floating the idea of buying Greenland as early as 2019, when, CNN reported, "Greenlandic and Danish authorities ... insisted the island was not for sale." A member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also known as NATO, through its relationship to Denmark, the Arctic landmass is thought to be rich in natural resources, including rare earth elements and lithium, which are key to clean energy development, as well as oil and gas reserves.

"There would be none of our sustainability and environmental laws that would be in effect anymore," Martinussen told CG about her fears should outside forces take control of Greenland's resources. "We've worked hard to make sure we have a framework in our laws that protects nature as much as possible when mining, drilling, digging."

The territory banned oil exploration in 2021, noting disappointing output and environmental concerns.

The Trump administration's intention to acquire Greenland reentered the news cycle in recent weeks, with the president threatening tariffs against European countries and some Greenlanders reportedly fearing invasion. On January 21, the New York Times said, Trump announced at the World Economic Forum that he "won't use force" to take the self-governing territory, later posting on Truth Social that he and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had "formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region."

According to Bloomberg, while publicly available details of the "framework" remain scarce, it could include "the stationing of U.S. missiles, mining rights aimed at keeping Chinese interests out and a bolstered NATO presence." The outlet also reported on January 22 that Greenland's prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, "said he was open to cooperate more on mineral resources."

But "Even if it's 'just the minerals,'" for example, that Trump wants to pursue, Martinussen says "he would be in violation of our rights to develop in our own time at our own pace, in accordance [with our] own needs and interests."

The co-founder of Greenland's Cooperation Party has been a vocal spokesperson for her community. In conversation with CG, Martinussen made a connection between the rumored drive to extract the island's natural resources and threats to Greenlandic women's rights — a topic of special import in the territory, where Denmark only recently formally apologized for its racist forced contraception program targeting Inuit girls and women between 1960 and 1991.

Meanwhile, if the U.S. next took hold of all or part of the territory, Martinussen worries, women there may lose numerous protections — protections Americans don't currently have.

"Paid maternity leave, gone. Free abortion, gone. Free birth control, medicine, etc., gone," she said. "Safety on the streets for women is … much higher here than in the U.S. — also gone."

Indigenous women could be at particular risk under U.S. control of Greenland, Martinussen indicated, given the high rates of missing and murdered Native American women and girls — some of whom have been impacted by extractive oil and mining operations and the temporary "man camps" that house workers locally.

While she told CG that Greenland "just [wants] peace, to return to our lives, and be remote again," Martinussen also celebrated the support from numerous nations and groups, from Denmark to Europe more broadly, Canada, First Nations, and many residents of the U.S. 

"We're flooded with support. As. An. Indigenous. People!" she exclaimed via text. "That speaks to the exact opposite of Trump and his administration. The world has changed from the colonial days. People acknowledge and respect us."

While much more decolonial work may remain globally, Martinussen went on to note, "And we're validated and actually proven right in our philosophies: People are infinitely more precious and have an inherent value that's much higher than riches. The land is not for sale — neither are people."