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Af redaktionen 02-04 2009 - 09:15

The Danish foreign minister, Per Stig Møller, announced that a meeting between him and his Canadian counterpart, Lawrence Cannon, had not resulted in any further development in the dispute over who had sovereignty over the island.

The ministers also discussed Arctic policy and climate change, with the foreign ministry stressing that the continued debate over Hans Island’s sovereignty has no detrimental affect on the two countries otherwise good relationship with each other.

Hans Island, named after the nineteenth century Greenlandic traveller and translator Hans Hendrik, is believed by Denmark to fall under Danish sovereignty.

Geological surveys point to the Island being part of the Greenlandic land mass, and Denmark regard the 1933 ruling of the Permanent Court of International Justice, which granted Denmark full sovereignty over Greenland, as giving them undisputed sovereignty over the island.

However, Canada also point to geological evidence for its own sovereignty claims.

The issue reached the world media back in 2004 when Canada and Denmark both renewed claims over the island. The Canadian defence minister made a symbolic trip to the island in 2005 which led Greenland’s deputy premier to declare that the island had been occupied by the Canadians.

Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, called for an end to what he termed ‘the flag war’, referring to the tit-for-tat placing of flags on the island by Denmark and Canada.

The two countries decided to try and resolve the issue amicably through diplomatic negotiations, though with no resolution in sight and both countries adamant in their claims, it seems unlikely that any mutual decision will be made in the near future.