tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44946222608251182762024-02-08T11:41:16.762-08:00Circumstitions NewsJosephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14190648498809795551noreply@blogger.comBlogger808125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-1859914128259359892017-02-28T06:13:00.001-08:002017-02-28T06:13:29.534-08:00FLORIDA: Last charge dropped against mother of spite-circumcised son<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime--law/charges-dropped-against-boynton-mom-who-fought-son-circumcision/2GDmBYbkPXC8prlU91r1aL/" target="_blank">the Palm Beach Post</a><br />
February 20, 2017<br />
<h3>
Charges dropped against Boynton mom who fought son’s circumcision</h3>
<i>by Daphne Duret</i><br />
The case of the Boynton Beach mother arrested after she took her son on
the run rather than let his father have him circumcised is now
officially over.<br />
<br />
Prosecutors dropped criminal charges against 32-year-old Heather
Hironimus weeks ago after she completed an 18-month program to keep the
state from pursuing the case that could have landed her in prison for
up to five years.<br />
<br />
Hironimus became the subject of national attention after Florida’s 4th
District Court of Appeal upheld a ruling forcing Hironimus to go
through with a 2012 agreement she had signed allowing the boy’s father,
Dennis Nebus of Boca Raton, to have their son circumcised. When she
later changed her mind about the agreement, Palm Beach County Circuit
Judge Jeffrey Gillen ruled to enforce the agreement anyway.<br />
<br />
Hironimus took her then 4½-year-old son away in early 2015, a violation
of a civil court order requiring her to turn him over to Nebus.<br />
<br />
Authorities reunited the boy with his father after Hironumus was
arrested in May of that year.<br />
<br />
By then, Hironimus had won the praise of anti-circumcision groups
around the country, who sparked a small protest outside Joe DiMaggio
Children’s hospital after her arrest, when word leaked that Nebus may
have taken the boy there to be circumcised. It is unclear when the boy
was circumcised.<br />
<br />
In July 2015, defense attorney Richard Tendler worked out an agreement
with prosecutors on Hironimus’ behalf for her to enter a pretrial
intervention program that included a mental heath evaluation, a
four-hour parenting course and other provisions.<br />
<br />
Assistant State Attorney Craig Williams filed a notice with Circuit
Judge Glenn Kelley on Jan. 17 stating that Hironimus has successfully
completed the program, so prosecutors would be dropping the single
felony charge of interference with custody.
</div>
Josephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14190648498809795551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-61866204154689901472017-01-23T03:31:00.000-08:002017-01-23T03:31:05.844-08:00ZIMBABWE: Youth tries to cut off his own foreskin after being teased<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<br />
<div align="left">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="zm-self"></a></div>
<a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11784347" target="_blank">Daily Mail</a> (via NZ Herald)<br />
January 18, 2016<br />
<h3>
Teen attempts circumcision with machete after being teased</h3>
A teenager was rushed to hospital in Zimbabwe when he attempted to
circumcise himself using a machete after his friends mocked his penis.<br />
<br />
The teen attempted the DIY circumcision using the nearest sharp
object he could find after his friends told him he would not get a
girlfriend because he still had his foreskin in tact.<br />
<br />
The boy was rushed to St Luke's Mission Hospital in the
country's Lupane District, where he spent two days recovering from the
botched procedure, according to the Daily Mail.<br />
<br />
Staff at the clinic also carried out the circumcision operation that the boy had attempted on himself.<br />
<br />
A doctor said he did not understand why the boy had tried to
circumcise himself as healthcare workers would have visited his house
to perform the routine op.<br />
<br />
Dr Nyasha Masuka, medical director of Matabeleland North
Province, told news website My Zimbabwe: "It seems the other boys were
laughing at him for not being circumcised so he used a machete to
circumcise himself and he injured himself in the process.'<br />
<br />
"He was rushed to St Lukes Hospital where the health staff circumcised him." <span style="color: #cc0000;">[<i>Would they have done that if he had attempted to cut any other part off?</i>]</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"> </span>
<br />
Dr George Mature, medical officer for Lupane district, said
other patients at the hospital were 'shocked' that the boy had had the
courage to take the weapon to his own penis. <span style="color: #cc0000;"><i>[No shock at the cowardice of the bullies who drove him to it?]</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><i> </i></span>
<br />
He said: "The patients who were admitted with him were wondering how he managed to do it.
<br />
"The good thing is that he wounded the outer layer of foreskin.
So we had to keep him at the hospital to monitor him as he had used a
clinically inappropriate tool so we were worried that it could have
caused an infection."<br />
<br />
The incident comes less than a month after <a href="http://circumstitions.com/news/news74.html#mal-botch" target="_blank">a 10-year-old boy had the tip of his penis chopped off</a> after a routine circumcision operation went horribly wrong.<br />
<br />
The boy, who has not been named, was rushed to a hospital in the
Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, after the incident at a clinic in a
local suburb, which it is believed the surgeon's laser scalpel might
have slipped.
</div>
Josephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14190648498809795551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-73696647311874137272017-01-23T03:28:00.001-08:002017-01-23T03:28:46.941-08:00CHILE: Officials oppose 'normalisation' surgery of intersex children<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.washingtonblade.com/2016/01/11/chilean-officials-oppose-normalization-surgery-for-intersex-children/" target="_blank">Washington Blade</a><br />
January 11, 2016<br />
<h3>
Chilean officials oppose intersex children
‘normalization’ surgery</h3>
<i>by Michael K. Lavers</i><br />
<br />
The Chilean government has urged
doctors in the South American country to no longer perform surgeries
that “normalize” the sex of intersex children.<br />
<br />
Undersecretary of Health Jaime Burrows and
Undersecretary of
Assistance Networks Gisela Alarcón in a document the Chilean Ministry
of Health released last week expressed its opposition to “unnecessary
‘normalization’ treatments of intersex children” that include “<span style="color: #cc0000;">irreversible genital surgeries until they
are of a sufficient age to make decisions about their bodies</span>.”<br />
<br />
Camilo Godoy Peña, a Chilean LGBT rights advocate, on
Jan. 8
noted on his Facebook page that the document, which is dated Dec. 22,
also contains a series of recommendations for each branch of the
country’s public health system. These include the creation of a round
table of endocrinologists, gynecologists, psychiatrists and other
specialists to determine “which action to take in each case” of an
intersex child.<br />
<br />
Godoy said this document is the first time the Chilean
government has provided “clear instruction” on the treatment of
intersex children.<br />
<br />
“From this point forward there is a concrete tool to use
to
enforce the human rights of a group of people who have ‘been made
invisible,’” he wrote on his Facebook page. “For decades they have been
victims of violence, torture and ignorance.”<br />
<br />
The Chilean government released its recommendations less
than
three months after Godoy presented a letter to President Michelle
Bachelet that urged her government to do more to protect the rights of
intersex people.<br />
<br />
<b>U.N. report critical of ‘involuntary genital
normalizing surgery’</b>
<br />
Opposition to what advocates have described as Intersex
Genital Mutilation has increased in recent years.<br />
<br />
The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture in 2013 issued a
report
that notes intersex children who undergo “involuntary genital
normalizing surgery” face “permanent, irreversible infertility” and
“severe mental suffering.” The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human
Rights and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights are
among the other international bodies that have expressed concern over
the treatment of intersex people.<br />
<br />
Lawmakers in Malta last year approved a bill that bans
doctors
from performing “surgical intervention on the sex characteristics of a
minor” until he or she can provide “informed consent.”<br />
<br />
A Maryland law that allows intersex people to legally
change
the gender on their birth certificates without surgery took effect last
October. German parents since 2013 have been able to designate the
gender on their children’s birth certificates as “indeterminate.”<br />
<br />
An Irish law that allows transgender people to legally
change
their gender without medical intervention took effect last September.
Advocates have criticized the statute because it does not include
intersex people.
</div>
Josephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14190648498809795551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-12595480099224815292017-01-23T03:24:00.000-08:002017-01-23T03:24:22.529-08:00EASTERN CAPE: Death Toll at 23<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-12/15/c_135908392.htm" target="_blank">Xin Hua</a><br />
December 15, 2016<br />
<h3>
Deaths from botched circumcision climb to <span style="color: #cc0000;">23</span> in S. Africa</h3>
CAPE TOWN, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- At least 23 people have
died from botched circumcision during the summer initiation season in
South Africa, authorities said Wednesday.<br />
<br />
The deaths occurred despite the "Zero Deaths" campaign
launched by the government, the Department of Cooperative Governance
and Traditional Affairs said ...<br />
<br />
In winter and summer initiation seasons of <span style="color: #cc0000;">2015, approximately 101 initiates lost their
lives</span>, most in the Eastern Cape, and in the last 10 years
there has been an estimated <span style="color: #cc0000;">1,000
penile amputations</span>.
</div>
Josephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14190648498809795551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-3994748292239111752017-01-23T03:17:00.000-08:002017-01-23T03:17:30.154-08:00MALAYSIA: Boy loses penis-head in botched medical cutting<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/12/27/boy-loses-penis-during-botched-laser-circumcision/" target="_blank">The Star Online</a> (Malaysia)<br />
December 27, 2016<br />
<h3>
Boy loses penis during botched laser circumcision</h3>
<i>by Jastin Ahmad Tarmizi</i><br />
<br />
KAJANG: A routine circumcision for a 10-year-old boy
went horribly wrong when his penis was severed during a laser-based
procedure at a clinic in Taman Cheras Utama here.<br />
<br />
It is learnt that the incident occurred at about 8.15pm
on Dec 20 at the clinic during the surgery, which was performed using a
laser scalpel.<br />
<br />
Soon after the procedure, the doctor told the father of
the boy that he had accidentally cut off the head of his son's penis.<br />
<br />
The boy was rushed to the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Hospital (HUKM), which then referred him to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital
(HKL) for surgery to reattach the head of his penis.<br />
<br />
The father of the boy lodged a police report at HKL upon
advice from a doctor there.<br />
<br />
It is learnt that the doctor who performed the initial
surgery has 21 years of experience and is a graduate from the
University of Karachi in Pakistan.<br />
<br />
It is learnt that the clinic, which has been operating
for 15 years, is not registered with the Health Ministry.<br />
<br />
The doctor has since lodged a report over the incident,
admitting that an accident had occurred during the procedure.<br />
<br />
When contacted, Kajang OCPD Asst Comm Othman Nanyan
confirmed that the incident had indeed taken place.
</div>
Josephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14190648498809795551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-89634040888276619042017-01-23T03:14:00.000-08:002017-01-23T03:22:24.257-08:00KENYA: Boy faces loss of his penis after botched medical cutting<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000227915/boy-fights-for-manhood-after-botched-circumcision" target="_blank">Standard Digital</a><br />
December 25, 2016<br />
<h3>
Boy fights for manhood after botched circumcision</h3>
<i>by Dalton Nyabund</i><br />
A 10-year-old boy risks losing his genitals after a
medical circumcision went awry.<br />
<br />
In a classic case of professional negligence, doctors
now say
[name] from [place] may require grafting, following botched
circumcision at Vihiga County Hospital.<br />
<br />
When The Standard on Sunday visited the Standard Four
pupil and
his mother at Kisumu’s St Monica Hospital where he had been referred to
yesterday, he was in great pain as doctors tried to treat the wound.<br />
<br />
A tube connected to his crotch leads to a tube sitting
between
his legs. The urinary catheter is perhaps the only indication that all
is not well with the cheerful boy with a singsong voice.<br />
<br />
Dr Hillary Awuor, St Monica Hospital’s administrator,
says the
only way to save the genital now is through grafting, but the wound
must first be treated. He said the penis had lost sensation.<br />
<br />
“The grafting cannot be done on a raw wound. The wound
has to show some signs of healing and resolution,” said Awour.<br />
<br />
Grafting in this case is a surgical procedure where skin
will be
removed from one part of [name]’s body and used to replace the damaged
penile skin.<br />
<br />
Dr Awuor said although there are complications
associated with this kind of surgery. The surgeon was hopeful that it
would work.<br />
<br />
The boy’s mother, [name], said she walked into Vihiga
County
Hospital with her son on November 2 and paid Sh1, 000 for a
procedure most of his agemates in Luhya land were undergoing bravely.<br />
<br />
The nurse who performed the surgery wrongly sliced the
foreskin
and as soon as the procedure was complete, the wound started swelling.
But, the nurse dismissed this as normal and prescribed a few drugs that
would take care of it.<br />
<br />
<strong>PUS OZZING</strong>
<br />
It occurred to Ms [name] that her only child may have
been
wrongly sliced when the other boys were healing, yet her son’s was
becoming septic with pus oozing from the sinuses around the penis.<br />
<br />
“He cried throughout the process and the nurse said it
was
normal. The next day his penis started swelling and two days later, it
developed blisters but the nurse kept telling me it was normal. He just
asked me to give him the drugs he had prescribed,” narrated Ms [name].<br />
<br />
About a month later, the wound was getting worse. The
pain the
boy felt on his crotch had suddenly died down. The wound was rotting.
So she went back to the same hospital to seek further care and answers.<br />
<br />
She was referred to a surgeon of the hospital who agreed
that
the procedure was wrongly done. The wound had developed dead debris and
smelly, abnormal growth around it.<br />
<br />
[name] was immediately admitted to the surgical ward,
awaiting
a corrective surgery. But since the wound was septic, the surgeon first
cleaned it and removed the dead tissue, a process called debridement.<br />
<br />
She was directed to bathe him with warm, salty water for
four
days for the wound to heal before the plastic surgery could be done.<br />
<br />
On December 5 when the surgery was due, however, doctors
in public hospitals downed tools and they were abandoned.
</div>
Josephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14190648498809795551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-1811752682383525792017-01-23T03:12:00.000-08:002017-01-23T03:12:26.183-08:00KENYA: Knife-rapists go door-to-door <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://citizentv.co.ke/news/circumcisers-in-kuria-embark-on-door-to-door-forceful-circumcision-152057/" target="_blank">Citizen Digital</a><br />
December 15, 2016<br />
<h3>
Circumcisers in Kuria embark on door-to-door forceful
circumcision</h3>
<i>by George Juma For Citizen Digital</i><br />
<br />
Police in Kuria East Sub County have vowed to take
punitive measures against elders and circumcisers in the region who
have embarked on a door-to-door forceful traditional cut for both males
and females. <span style="color: #cc0000;">[<i>"Forceful
circumcision" is a double euphemism. It would be better called "rape by
knife".</i>]</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"> </span>
<br />
The circumcisers and the elders, also known as Wazee wa
Kimila, reportedly move door-to-door fishing out the girls and boys who
are yet to face the cut and ferrying them forcefully for circumcision
at established places.<br />
<br />
Speaking to Citizen Digital, Kuria East Sub County
Deputy County Commissioner Mr Westly Koech said that so far they have
arrested several people linked to the outlawed exercise during their
ongoing anti-FGM operations in the region.<br />
<br />
On Monday, Mr Koech said they arrested three suspects
who were found moving door-to-door harassing the family of the
uncircumcised individuals and have put them behind bars.<br />
<br />
He said the group of circumcisers and the elders are
crisscrossing the sub county on a motorbike looking for uncircumcised
people and forcing them to undergo the cut.<br />
<br />
The DCC said <span style="color: #cc0000;">old men
who had been circumcised at health facilities are also being forced to
undergo the traditional cut</span>, adding that police on Monday
rescued an old man who was being ferried on a motorcycle for
circumcision.<br />
<br />
Mr Koech has issued a stern warning to the circumcisers
and any other person linked to FGM in Kuria or forceful circumcision
for men in the region saying that they are not going to spare them in
the ongoing crackdown in the region.<br />
<br />
He further faulted the victims of such harassment saying
that most of them are not willing to come to the station to record
statements to enable police to take action. He, however, assured that
they are pursuing the suspects.
</div>
Josephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14190648498809795551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-70873569321094297552017-01-23T03:10:00.000-08:002017-01-23T03:10:28.905-08:00EASTERN CAPE: 9 male genital cutting deaths so far this season<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://citizen.co.za/news/news-national/1368161/summer-initiation-death-toll-rises-to-nine/" target="_blank">The Citizen</a> (South Africa)<br />
December 7, 2016<br />
<h3>
Summer initiation death toll rises to nine</h3>
<i>by Steven Tau</i><br />
Chairperson for the national initiation task team,
Inkosi Sipho Mahlangu, said nine deaths were recorded in the Eastern
Cape.<br />
<br />
One initiate died last week and eight this week.<br />
<br />
“The exact causes of the deaths are still being
investigated,” Mahlangu said.
<br />
...
<br />
“In the previous seasons, some initiates bled to death
and died as a result of dehydration due to excessive heat.<br />
<br />
“We have since met with all key role players in Gauteng
and agreed that this year’s initiations be put on hold.
<br />
...
</div>
Josephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14190648498809795551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-73128977935979074072017-01-23T03:09:00.000-08:002017-01-23T03:09:06.474-08:00JAKARTA: Why female genital cutting is so common in Indonesia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.rappler.com/world/regions/asia-pacific/indonesia/english/154597-female-genital-mutliation-reasons" target="_blank">Rappler</a><br />
December 5, 2016<br />
<h3>
Why the cutting of a woman's clitoris is so
prevalent in Indonesia</h3>
<b>Female genital mutilations is a widespread
practice in the 4th most populous nation in the world. Here's why.</b><br />
<i>by Ayunda Nurvitasari</i><br />
<br />
The perception that females must be circumcised like
males, as well as religious belief, social pressure, and encouragement
from health workers are behind the rampant practice of female genital
mutilation (FGM) in Indonesia, a new research reveals. <span style="color: #cc0000;">[<i>"like males" takes male cutting
for granted, but many of the same arguments deployed here can equally
well be used against it.</i>]</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"> </span> <br />
Conducted by Hivos Southeast Asia, an organization that
focuses on global development, and the Center for Gender and Sexuality
Study at the University of Indonesia, the research found that among
mothers who have had FGM procedure done to their daughters, <span style="color: #cc0000;">97.1%
believe circumcision is a must for both male and female</span>.
About the same
percentage of the respondents also said that they believe the practice
has a strong religious justification, and that they did it because it
is considered a cultural tradition practiced by most of the people they
know.<br />
<br />
The study, which was unveiled last week, found that up
to 61% of girls underwent female genital mutilation (FGM) before they
turned one year old. It also identified a predominant perception that
uncircumcised girls will be alienated because they are <span style="color: #cc0000;">considered
filthy</span> and will grow up promiscuous and unwanted.<br />
<br />
The report was based on in-depth interviews, literary
reviews, focus group discussions and surveys conducted in Medan, North
Sumatera; Sumenep, East Java; Ketapang, West Kalimantan; Bima, West
Nusa Tenggara; Polewali Mandar, West Sulawesi; Gorontalo; and Ambon,
Maluku. Held in January 2015 to April 2015, the study involves 700
respondents, half of whom are mothers who had the FGM procedure done to
their daughters. The remaining half did not opt for the procedure.<br />
<br />
<b>Insufficient knowledge</b>
<br />
The WHO (World Health Organization) determines female
genital mutilation (known as “sunat perempuan” in Indonesia) as a very
dangerous practice because it can cause severe bleeding, urinating
problems, infections and many other complications, while giving no
health benefits at all. <span style="color: #cc0000;">The
practice is considered a violation of
human’s rights</span> to girls and women.<br />
<br />
However, the study recorded that up to 90% of Indonesian
mothers believe that FGM will make their daughters <span style="color: #cc0000;">healthier</span>. A total
of 84.6% also believe female genital mutilation can make their
daughters’ vagina <span style="color: #cc0000;">cleaner</span>,
55.4% believe it will enhance their
daughters’ fertility, and 54.6% believe it will control their
daughters’ sexual drive.<br />
<br />
In addition to false assumptions regarding the health
impacts of FGM, the respondents practice FGM due to religious beliefs
and <span style="color: #cc0000;">social pressure</span>.
Up to 88% of the respondents believe that not
circumcising their daughters would make them sinners, and as much as
36% believe that FGM will make it easier for their daughters to find a
husband.<br />
<br />
Based on their educational backgrounds, the highest
number of mothers who circumcised their daughters are high school
graduates at 32.3%, followed by elementary school graduates at 26.6%,
and junior high school graduates at 23.7%. At least 9.4% of mothers who
practice FGM have a bachelor’s degree.<br />
<br />
<b>Dangerous procedure</b>
<br />
Half of the mothers who have their daughters circumcised
believe the procedure involves injuring the tip of the clitoris. About
36.6% sees it as cutting a small part of clitoris, 9.1% believes it
involves wiping the clitoris with antiseptic, and 1.1% sees FGM as the
piercing or scraping of vagina.<br />
<br />
The WHO categorizes FGM into 4 types, two of which are
commonly practiced in Indonesia.<br />
<br />
One of the common practice in Indonesia is
clitoridectomy, which is the partial or total removal of the clitoris
or the fold skin surrounding the clitoris (the prepuce). In Indonesia,
this can be found in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara, where the procedure
involves cutting the tip of the clitoris that they called “isi noi.” In
other areas in the country, such as Ambon, the same procedure entails<span style="color: #cc0000;"> a
partial removal in the size of “biji padi” (a grain of rice)</span>.<br />
<br />
The most common form of FGM in Indonesia, which was
found in 6 out of 7 areas surveyed, is what the WHO categorizes as type
4. It involves injuring the vagina <span style="color: #cc0000;">until
it bleeds a little</span>, scraping
the clitoris <span style="color: #cc0000;">until it shows blood
on the surface</span>, or pinching the clit
with small knife to extract the white “haram” part – a practice called
“cubit kodo”.<br />
<br />
Other than these two, female circumcision in Indonesia
is merely a “symbolic” practice that does not involve cutting the
vagina – practices like <span style="color: #cc0000;">wiping the
clitoris with cotton and dab the
cotton with antiseptic to symbolize blood</span>, a practice that
is common in
West Kalimantan and East Java. In Gorontalo the procedure involves
touching the clitoris with a small knife; in some areas, there is even
<span style="color: #cc0000;">no touching of the genital</span>
involved.<br />
<br />
More than half of the FGM procedures is conducted by
dukun bayi (baby shaman) and a quarter is done by dukun sunat
(circumcision shaman), while 17 percent of midwives and 0.9 percent of
doctors conducted the procedure, the study shows.<br />
<br />
The danger lies in the fact that the tools used for the
procedures are not always hygienic.<br />
<br />
<b>Knives, razors</b>
<br />
Dr. Johanna Debora Imelda, a member of the research team
at the Center for Gender and Sexuality Study UI, listed some of the
tools used in the procedures, from small knives, razor blades to
eyebrow scissors.<br />
<br />
“The small knife being used is usually considered
sacred, so it is not washed for years, often ending up rusty,” she said
during the launch of the report.<br />
<br />
In the report a girl from Bima testified about her
experience: “I was 6 years old and I felt so afraid that I cried. I
didn’t have the courage to look at it. It bled for two days, so I was
treated with traditional medicine. Then I was told to bathe in the sea.
After the circumcision it felt painful when I peed.”<br />
<br />
She recalled her friends’ experiences: “One of my
friends was too afraid that she moved a lot during the process. She
bled a lot like a woman in childbirth. Another one was so afraid to
have it done after hearing of others’ experiences, so her parents
persuaded her by buying her gifts so she would agree to the procedure,”
the girl explained.<br />
<br />
<b>Social and cultural</b>
<br />
Johanna says the practice of FGM is deeply embedded in
Indonesian culture, although female circumcision is not mentioned in
the Quran. The study found that society sees the practice as sacred and
that it is the parents’ responsibility to have their daughters
circumcised.<br />
<br />
Support and pressure from family, neighbors, religious
figures and health practitioners contribute to a mother’s decision to
circumcise their daughters.<br />
<br />
Often women’s values lay on whether or not she is
circumcised. There will be social sanctions to anyone who goes against
the practice. The report describes how different societies practice
this.<br />
<br />
In Poliwali Mandar and Sumenep, for instance, women who
are not circumcised are labeled promiscuous and believed to have high
sexual drive. They also believe that women who are not circumcised run
the risk of turning into sex workers. In Ambon, uncircumcised women are
not allowed to enter the mosque, pray or read the Quran. In Bima no man
would want to marry an uncircumcised woman.<br />
<br />
Riri Khariroh, a commissioner at the National Commission
on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan), said during the report
launch that <span style="color: #cc0000;">eliminating the
practice of FGM in Indonesia will require
redefining the term to shed its association with religion</span>.
<span style="color: #cc0000;">[<i>They want to
"eliminate the practice" even though some versions do not involve
touching the genitals....</i>]</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"> </span>
<br />
“We should change the term ‘sunat perempuan’ (female
circumcision) because ‘sunat’ has a strong association and attachment
to religiosity and is therefore difficult to eliminate. We should start
using the term ‘pelukaan genitalia perempuan’ (female genital
mutilation) instead,” she said. – Rappler.com
</div>
Josephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14190648498809795551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-8342152120650457542017-01-23T03:01:00.000-08:002017-01-23T03:01:52.618-08:00COPENHAGEN: Danish doctors come out against infant male genital cutting<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://linkis.com/www.thelocal.dk/2016/9M71i" target="_blank">The Local </a>(Denmark)<br />
December 5, 2016<br />
<h3>
Danish doctors come out against circumcision</h3>
The Danish Medical Association (Lægeforeningen) has
recommended that no boys under the age of 18 be circumcised in Denmark.<br />
<br />
The association released its recommendation on Friday,
saying that circumcision should be “an informed, personal choice” that
young men should make for themselves.<br />
<br />
In a press release, the group said that when parents
have their male children circumcised, it robs the boys of the ability
to make decisions about their own bodies and their own cultural and
religious beliefs.<br />
<br />
“To be circumcised should be an informed, personal
choice. It is most consistent with the individual’s right to
self-determination that parents not be allowed to make this decision
but that it is left up to the individual when he has come of age,” Lise
Møller, the chairwoman of the doctors’ association’s ethics board,
said.<br />
<br />
Lægeforeningen said that male circumcision carries a
risk of complications and should only be performed on children when
there is a documented medical need.<br />
<br />
In making its recommendation, the doctors’ association
stopped short of calling for a legal ban on male circumcision, which is
legal but relatively rare in Denmark.<br />
<br />
“We have discussed it thoroughly, also in our ethics
committee. We came to the conclusion that it is difficult to predict
the consequences of a ban – both for the involved boys, who could for
example face bullying or unauthorized procedures with complications –
and for the cultural and religious groups they belong to,” Møller said.<br />
<br />
The Danish Health and Medicines Authority
(Sundhedsstyrelsen) estimates that somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000
circumcisions are performed in Denmark each year, primarily on Jewish
and Muslim boys.<br />
<br />
The majority of those procedures occur outside of the
public health system and are done in religious ceremonies in the
child's home or at private clinics.<br />
<br />
There are thought to be an unknown number of
circumcisions carried out each year that are not reported. Last year it
was revealed that the State Serum Institute (SSI) had kept a database
of circumcisions for 19 months despite never receiving legal authority
to do so from the Danish Data Protection Agency (Datatilsynet).<br />
<br />
That illegally-kept database was deleted in August 2015
but the Health Ministry announced on Monday that beginning in 2017 all
circumcisions, regardless of where they take place, will need to be
reported to Denmark's national patient registry
(Landspatientregistret).<br />
<br />
According to a major 2007 study by the World Health
Organization, roughly 30 percent of the global male population is
circumcised. Of those, roughly two thirds are practising Muslims, while
0.8 percent are Jews.<br />
<br />
Male circumcision regularly pops up as the subject of
debate in Denmark and polls have shown that upwards of 87 percent of
Danes have expressed support for banning the practise on boys under the
age of 18.<br />
<br />
Female circumcision, also known as female genital
mutilation (FGM), is illegal in Denmark.
</div>
Josephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14190648498809795551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-35724394224696730092017-01-23T02:57:00.000-08:002017-01-23T02:57:51.863-08:00KENYA, UGANDA: Men regret being cut, denounce campaign<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.blacknews.com/news/africans-speak-out-against-mass-circumcision-campaign-vmmc-experience-project/#.WEDAq1wTPhx" target="_blank">BlackNews.com</a><br />
November 30, 2016<br />
<h3>
Africans Speak Out Against the Mass Circumcision
Campaign</h3>
<i>by <a href="mailto:max.fish@vmmcproject.org" target="_blank">Max
Fish</a></i>
<br />
<i>“We respect science honestly, but we do not
support what
science brings to finish us, to defile our cultures, defile our
rights.”</i> — Prince Hillary Maloba<br />
<br />
<i>— Since 2008, western public health giants* have been
circumcising Africans by the millions to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS.
American taxpayers are funding the effort through the President’s
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). An estimated 12 million men
and boys have been circumcised to date. The world has not heard a word
from them until now. —</i><br />
<i> </i>
<br />
Nationwide — The <a href="http://www.vmmcproject.org/" target="_blank">VMMC
Experience Project</a> recently sent
cameras into Uganda and Kenya to document the realities of the mass
circumcision program. Local investigators conducted interviews with 90
affected men and women and found:
<br />
<dir>1. Africans are told circumcision conveys immunity
from
HIV.
2. Condom use is at an all-time low, and AIDS is on the
rise.
<br />
3. The program is killing the very people it is supposed
to help.
<br />
4. No follow-up post circumcision (cut-and-release
approach).
<br />
5. Resentment and outrage among Africans.
<br />
</dir>
The “Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision” (VMMC) public
health program is the first mass surgical campaign in human history. It
targets Africans exclusively, leading some to question whether there
are underlying racial motives. For centuries, western stereotypes have
held that African men are lascivious or hypersexed, unable to control
their sexual urges. Compulsory African-American male circumcision
campaigns were proposed as early as the nineteenth century.<br />
<br />
Prince Hillary Maloba is a native Kenyan, director of
the VMMC Experience Project, and the driving force behind the
investigation. “Male circumcision,” he explains, “as a project that has
been applied for we [sic] Africans, has failed to reduce HIV the way we
were told. Two, we view it as a violation of human rights. How target
only one race in the entire world?”<br />
<br />
Bishop Cleophas Matete, another native Kenyan, agrees:
“I believe the entire process of trying to test it in Africa was wrong
from the beginning.”<br />
<br />
The mass circumcision campaign was introduced to reduce
the incidence of HIV in fourteen sub-Saharan African countries that did
not initially practice genital cutting. However, UNAIDS data indicate
that the African HIV epidemic has only worsened since 2010—shortly
after VMMC was implemented. For the first time since the war on AIDS
began, HIV is back on the rise.<br />
<br />
The World Health Organization claims that male
circumcision curbs female-to-male HIV transmission by up to 60 percent
and provides lifelong partial protection against HIV and other sexually
transmitted infections. Their conclusions derive from a process of
contentious surgical experimentation on Africans.<br />
<br />
Opponents allege that the targeting of impoverished
Africans constitutes a racial and human rights issue. Comparisons are
made to the Tuskegee syphilis study. Others argue that the program
results in a dangerous false security. The present investigation
confirms that men, women, and teens are abandoning condoms out of a
belief that they are already protected by circumcision. This in turn
increases the spread of HIV.<br />
<br />
Prior to the VMMC Experience Project investigation, none
have consulted or followed up with the men and women who have been
directly affected. Many are living in rural poverty, invisible to the
developed world. They have had no platform or voice in the circumcision
agenda. Maloba’s investigation is the first to shed light on the
African side of the story.<br />
<br />
African men and women say the campaign is violating
their rights, confusing their cultural identity, and profoundly
worsening the AIDS epidemic. They implicate the program in the spike in
HIV cases we have seen in recent years. <b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Seven respondents in Maloba’s
investigation said that they had acquired HIV because of misinformation
around circumcision.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #cc0000;"> </span></b> <br />
“I blame those who told me that if I get
circumcised I won’t get HIV,” said one respondent, “and I got HIV
already!”<br />
<br />
Others mourned the loss of friends, brothers, relatives, and
neighbors to AIDS following the procedure they believed would protect
them.<br />
<br />
“These people are dying of HIV due to ignorance,” a respondent
explained.<br />
<br />
“If we don’t stop this thing,” Maloba warns, “this
community will not have a generation that will take care of the old
people.”<br />
<br />
Instead of mass circumcision, Africans want funding for
sustainable medical facilities, anti-retroviral medications (ARVs),
more durable condoms, HIV education, and poverty reduction initiatives.<br />
<br />
Many cite AIDS-related tragedies from the VMMC program.
They seek an end to the circumcision campaign as a public health
disaster and a form of cultural imperialism from the West. “It is
something that has been imposed on us,” a reverend explained in his
interview. “If I could get a forum to fight it, I could fight it very
hard.”<br />
<br />
*VMMC-promoting institutions include the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, USAID,
PEPFAR, Jhpiego (Johns Hopkins University), and numerous NGOs.<br />
<br />
About the VMMC Experience Project
The VMMC Experience Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit effort to document
the effects and aftermath of the world’s first mass surgical campaign.
Its aim is to empower the most frequently overlooked contingent in the
African circumcision regime: Africans.
</div>
Josephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14190648498809795551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-22572544046343931982017-01-23T02:49:00.000-08:002017-01-23T02:49:50.644-08:00ISRAEL: Racist mohel sends novices to practice cutting on Ethopians<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.756059" target="_blank">Haaretz</a><br />
November 29, 2016<br />
<h3>
Israeli Rabbi Uses Ethiopians, Sudanese Infants for
Circumcision Training, Report Shows</h3>
<b>The investigation by Israel's new broadcaster
captured mentor, Rabbi Eliyahu Asulin, saying on camera that the poorer
strata of the population are 'cannon fodder.'</b><br />
<br />
Inexperienced students of circumcision have been
practicing their skills on the babies of the poorest of Israeli society
– Ethiopian and Sudanese families – often claiming to be
fully-qualified mohels (Jewish ritual circumcisers,) according to a new
investigation.<br />
<br />
The investigation was conducted by Kan, Israel's new
public broadcasting corporation.<br />
<br />
According to the investigation, the initiates are
students of Rabbi Eliyahu Asulin of Hadera, a rabbinate-approved mohel
with over 30 years' experience, who is paid thousands of dollars by the
students to teach them the trade.<br />
<br />
In many instances, according to the investigation,
Asulin sends totally inexperienced students to conduct circumcisions
among poor families, without accompanying them himself.<br />
<br />
Asulin allegedly explained to the Kan investigative
journalist that he first instructs the students to make business cards
describing their profession as "Mohel." Then he tells them to
distribute their cards at nurseries and post-natal clinics.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, the recording of Asulin continues, "I'll
lodge a mohel certificate in your name with the rabbinate. That will
already gives you a year's headstart."<br />
<br />
The rabbi goes on to explain why the students practice
on the babies of the weaker strata of the population: "Why not?" he
asks in the recording. "They have no father. No mother… There's no
problem. <b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Even if your cut
isn't straight, they won't say anything</span></b>, because
they don't understand anything."<br />
<br />
He later told the investigator – who by then had signed
up for the course at a price of $11,000, according to the report –
"They're Ethiopians, you're doing it to Ethiopians… There are the
regular Ethiopians and then there are the Sudanese. They're the worst.
They're as black as natives."<br />
<br />
Asulin also said he tells his students to claim to be
qualified when dealing with the Ethiopians and Sudanese. "Why does
everyone go to them?" he asks. "Because that's where you learn. They're
cannon fodder."<br />
<br />
Asulin, according to the Kan investigation, is not the
only mohel who sends students to practice on poor families. Kan says<span style="color: #cc0000;"> it has recorded conversations with others
who do the same thing</span>.<br />
<br />
Asulin said in response that the video footage of him
had been edited and that the exposé had been ordered by “political
elements” in Hadera.<br />
<br />
“I have circumcised thousands of Ethiopian babies and I
see it as a holy work," he said. "I will continue to dedicate my life
to the public.”<br />
<br />
In a statement reported by Channel 2, the Chief
Rabbinate said: “If the incidents described in the video are true, we
see it as a very grave incident.”</div>
Josephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14190648498809795551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-24197819328391653942017-01-23T02:45:00.000-08:002017-01-23T02:45:29.071-08:00GEORGIA: Government may make [female?] genital cutting criminal<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>This is Georgia the country next to Turkey, and it's not a
done deal yet</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://agenda.ge/news/70614/eng" target="_blank">Agenda.ge</a><br />
November 24, 2016<br />
<h3>
Gov’t takes step to declare circumcision a criminal
offence </h3>
Georgia's Ministry of Justice has begun proceedings to
make
circumcision, same as female genital mutilation (FGM) illegal in
Georgia. <span style="color: #cc0000;">[<i>A careful
reading suggests</i><i> that "same as" means "such as" not
"like" and that </i><i>this whole article refers only to
female genital cutting</i>.]</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"> </span>
<br />
Acting Minister of Justice Thea Tsulukiani said the
Justice
Ministry had initiated a law amendment that would make circumcision a
criminal offence.<br />
<br />
Her comment yesterday followed local media
reports that two-three of villages in eastern Kakheti region, inhabited
by Muslim Kist people, still addressed FGM.<br />
<br />
Several locals told
media that circumcision remained part of their tradition that played a
role in the 'coming of age' of a girl and was necessary before
marriage.<br />
<br />
Throughout the world FGM is widely frowned upon, with
the World
Health Organisation (WHO) saying FGM is the deliberate mutilation of
female genitalia, with FGM being described as any procedure that
injured the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.<br />
<br />
The Muslim Kist population still believed FGM was
appropriate
and meant girls would be a virgin for their wedding night and remain
faithful to her husband, as the mutilation prevents women from
achieving sexual pleasure.<br />
<br />
The process was generally carried
out by people who do not have relevant medical knowledge and
experience, with no anesthesia and sometimes could be fatal.
<br />
<dir>"Over the last four years the Government of Georgia
has taken
a range of steps ... to ensure high level protection of children’s
rights,” Tsulukiani said. </dir><dir>"The process must continue and conclude
with the ratification of the Istanbul Convention I had the honour of
signing two years ago. I have big hopes that the new Parliament of
Georgia will ratify the Convention,” she added.<br />
</dir>
A couple
of days ago the Ministry of Justice introduced an Article in the
Istanbul Convention that envisaged circumcision would become illegal
and punishable, said Tsulukiani, adding "unfortunately” there was no
earlier information about the existence of the archaic tradition in the
"two or three” villages in east Georgia where the practice still
occurred.<br />
<br />
Representatives of the Muslim religion said their
holy scriptures "said nothing" about circumcision and said it was a
custom of some ethnic groups that mainly resided in Africa,
consequently Islam generally doesn't support FGM.<br />
<br />
Georgia’s
civil sector has already addressed the issue and said circumcision was
one of the "highest level violation of human rights.”<br />
<br />
Circumcision
is generally carried out on young children aged 2-4 years of age but it
can also be carrier out on young adults through the initiative of
family members. </div>
Josephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14190648498809795551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-78334420269336586062017-01-23T02:40:00.000-08:002017-01-23T02:40:56.290-08:00LONDON: 2 doctors face FGC charges over consented "designer vagina" ops<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/doctors-face-prosecution-over-genital-cosmetic-surgery-in-london-clinics-a3400726.html?utm_content=buffer0eb07&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer" target="_blank">the Evening Standard</a><br />
November 22, 2016<br />
<h3>
Doctors face prosecution over genital cosmetic surgery
in London clinics
</h3>
<i>by Martin Bentham</i><br />
Two London doctors face prosection over 'designer
vagina' procedure. <br />
<br />
Two London doctors are facing prosecution for allegedly
carrying
out illegal cosmetic surgery on women at clinics in the capital.<br />
<br />
The
women who had the “designer vagina” procedures were adults who paid for
the surgery in the belief that it would make them more attractive.<br />
<br />
But
Scotland Yard detectives are now carrying out a criminal investigation
after being alerted to the cases and deciding that the doctors’ actions
involved a potential breach of legislation outlawing female genital
mutilation.<br />
<br />
Files on both doctors have now been submitted to the
Crown
Prosecution Service for charging decisions. A file has also been sent
to prosecutors on a third case in Cheshire.<br />
<br />
The news will raise hopes that a first conviction under
anti-FGM legislation could be secured after the failure last year of
the only prosecution so far.<br />
<br />
The police investigations will also prompt renewed
debate about
cosmetic genital surgery, which includes labia reduction and vaginal
tightening.<br />
<br />
It comes after the pop star Sinitta revealed plans to
have her own “vaginoplasty” filmed and broadcast online.<br />
<br />
The singer, 53, has already put footage of a friend
having a “designer vagina” operation on the Periscope site.<br />
<br />
Such procedures — which critics say are wrongly promoted
as
enhancing sexual pleasure and attractiveness — are carried out widely
at clinics in Harley Street and elsewhere.<br />
<br />
The Home Office warned two years ago, however, in
evidence to
Parliament, that the operations may be illegal unless there was a
medical or psychological reason for them.<br />
<br />
That prompted renewed attention on the issue from police
and
prosecutors, resulting in the criminal investigation into the two
London doctors.<br />
<br />
It is understood that in both cases prosecutors believe
the
evidential test which they apply before bringing charges has been met.<br />
<br />
Prosecutors are assessing whether bringing charges is in
the
public interest. Sources say that since the application of law to
“designer vagina” surgery has not been tested in court, government
departments are being consulted.<br />
<br />
The views of royal medical colleges and anti-FGM
campaign
groups will also be considered as prosecutors prepare guidance to
determine their approach. This is expected to be completed by the end
of the year. Decisions over bringing charges will follow.<br />
<br />
“So-called
designer vagina surgery is classed as FGM when it comes to rules on
mandatory reporting,” said a source. “The question [here] is whether it
is in the public interest to prosecute.”<br />
<br />
There are no official figures on the number of cosmetic
genital
operations carried out, since many are conducted privately, but doctors
believe the surgery is becoming more common.<br />
<br />
A study by the Royal College of Obstetricians and
Gynaecologists has blamed the trend on “marketing by the private
sector” and images online.<br />
<br />
Doctors warn that women are being pressured by
“unrealistic
representations of vulval appearance in popular culture” and the
advertising of the surgery as an “unproblematic lifestyle choice”.<br />
<br />
A report by the British Society for Paediatric and
Adolescent
Gynaecology on labia reduction has warned that there is “no scientific
evidence” to support the practice and that the health risks,
particularly to girls under 18, include infection and a loss of
sensitivity.<br />
<br />
There are similar concerns about surgery designed to
increase the size of the “g-spot” and tighten the vagina.<br />
<br />
Campaign groups against FGM have complained that a
“double
standard” is applied under which ethnic minority communities, which
have traditionally practised mutilation, are being targeted by law
enforcers while identical surgery carried out on white women for
cosmetic reasons is tolerated.<br />
<br />
The Commons Home Affairs Committee raised the same
concern in a
2014 report and asked Theresa May, then the home secretary, to consider
whether legislation was needed to close this potential “loophole”. Mrs
May replied that the 2003 Female Genital Mutilation Act covered
cosmetic surgery.<br />
<br />
In a submission to Parliament, she added: “The 2003 Act
does
not contain any exemption for cosmetic surgery. If a procedure ... is
unnecessary for physical or mental health ... then it is an offence
<span style="color: #cc0000;">[<i>making MGC an
offence</i>]</span>...
it would be for a court to decide if cosmetic surgery constitutes
mutilation and is therefore illegal.”<br />
<br />
The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed that it was
assessing
three files on suspected FGM offences, but declined to comment further.<br />
<br />
The Met also declined to comment.<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">[<i>No mention
of the elephant in the room, informed consent</i>.]</span>
</div>
Josephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14190648498809795551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-47961248153956845712017-01-23T02:33:00.000-08:002017-01-23T02:33:30.985-08:00PLEASANTON, CA: Publisher won't retract Morris male-cutting article, editor resigns<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://retractionwatch.com/2016/11/22/journal-editor-resigns-over-firestorm-from-circumcision-article" target="_blank">Retraction
Watch</a><br />
November 22, 2016<br />
<h3>
Journal editor resigns over firestorm from circumcision
article</h3>
Circumcision is a hot topic. So hot, questions about a
reviewer’s potential conflict with the author of an article promoting
circumcision prompted a journal editor to resign, and one academic to
call another a “fanatic.”<br />
<br />
It began in August, when <span style="color: #cc0000;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" target="_blank">Brian Morris</a></span>,
professor
emeritus of molecular medicine at the University of Sydney, published a
critique of a paper that itself had critiqued the practice of
circumcision. But the sole reviewer of Morris’s article was a frequent
co-author of his, Aaron Tobian of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
In his reference section, Morris listed five papers on which he and
Tobian were co-authors.<br />
<br />
A tipster forwarded us emails from Eduardo Garin, editor
in chief of the journal, saying he had resigned from the journal after
it refused to retract the paper, despite the fact that its sole
reviewer was a frequent collaborator of the author. However, Garin is
still listed as editor in chief on the journal’s site.<br />
<br />
Garin confirmed to us that he resigned after the
publisher refused to retract or correct the Morris article; however,
Xiu-Xia Song, vice director of the editorial office at Baishideng, told
us by email that Garin is still the journal’s editor.<br />
<br />
Here are some specifics:
<br />
Morris’s paper is “Critical evaluation of unscientific
arguments disparaging affirmative infant male circumcision policy” in
the World Journal of Clinical Pediatrics, put out by the Baishideng
Publishing Group. It critiqued “Risks, Benefits, Complications and
Harms: Neglected Factors in the Current Debate on Non-Therapeutic
Circumcision,” published in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal by
Robert Darby, an independent scholar who also wrote the
anti-circumcision book “A Surgical Temptation: The Demonization of the
Foreskin and the Rise of Circumcision in Britain.”<br />
<br />
As usual, we sent emails to everyone else involved.<br />
<br />
Morris defended Tobian’s impartiality, noting:
<br />
<dir>Tobian is an expert on the topic and would be highly
unlikely to allow any past relation with me over an unrelated paper to
influence his assessment of this recent manuscript. You are clutching
at straws … and for what? Do you have a hidden agenda. If so think one
would regard that as unethical…Did [Darby] put you up to this
nonsense?…Tobian was not on the list of suggested reviewers. So now
will you go away and stop bothering me? This is a non-issue. If you are
looking for someone to annoy I suggest you go and harass Darby.</dir>
When we contacted Tobian, the sole reviewer, he declined
to comment, saying “I am conflicted.”
<br />
Tobian is still listed as a peer reviewer at the bottom
of the journal article; Song didn’t respond to questions, about the
World Journal of Clinical Pediatrics’ conflict of interest policy for
peer reviewers. That policy reads:
<br />
<dir>Reviewers will decline participation in the peer
review process for any manuscript if a conflict of interest exists,
including interests related to the manuscript’s authors, personal
interests, or academic or economic interests. If a conflict of interest
becomes apparent during the peer review process, the reviewer must
inform the Editorial Office immediately.</dir>
There are two comments on the article, one from
circumcision critic John Dalton, and the other a response from Morris.
Dalton’s comment reads in part:
<br />
<dir>Morris, Krieger, Klausner and reviewer Tobian are
members of an authorship cartel who seek to promote circumcision by
co-authoring papers and reviewing each other’s work. <span style="color: #c00000;">[<i>Members of the
cartel include Robert Bailey, Stefan Bailis, Ronald Gray, Daniel
Halperin, Godfrey Kigozi, Jeffrey Klausner, Brian Morris, Stephen
Moses, Malcolm Potts, Thomas Quinn, Edgar Schoen, David Serwadda, Dirk
Taljaard, Aaron Tobian, David Tomlinson, Richard Wamai, Maria Wawer,
Helen Weiss andr Thomas Wiswell.</i>]</span> They also seek
to
repress papers with opposing views by writing damning reviews.</dir>
Morris’s response reads, in part:
<br />
<dir>We suggest you be wary of comments posted by opponents
of male circumcision. These pose a threat to good science, public
health and individual well-being. The comment by Dalton provides false
allegations against the authors. This appears to be a deliberate
strategy undertaken in a desperate attempt to discredit high quality
scientific work when no credible criticisms can be made.</dir>
Darby, the author of the paper Morris et al was
criticizing, acknowledged to us that the topic of circumcision raises
strong feelings: <br />
<dir>Circumcision is in itself an intensely emotional topic
because it is the focus of discourses that are themselves likely to
generate intense emotions: sexuality, body image, masculinity, health,
religion, science etc. Most people writing on the topic have an
interest one way or another and passionate feelings may arise among
people on both sides of the debate: circumcision critics through
resentment at having been circumcised, for example, or supporters
because they have circumcised their own boys and do not wish to believe
that they have done the wrong thing.<br />
<br />
But even admitting that, it has to be said that the
intensity Prof. Morris brings to the debate is in a class of its own,
and I don’t think it is unreasonable to describe him as a fanatic…I
don’t think Morris has any particular aversion to me – he tends to hate
all circumcision critics equally, and generally responds to them with
great personal venom.</dir></div>
Josephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14190648498809795551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-62250731395836763982017-01-23T02:19:00.000-08:002017-01-23T02:19:07.097-08:00ISRAEL: Father fails to protect son from genital cutting<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/219188" target="_blank">Arutz Sheva</a><br />
October 20, 2016<br />
<h3>
Dad explains why he kidnapped baby</h3>
<b>Father who ran off with baby just before
circumcision explains his motives.</b>
<br />
<i>by Haim Lev</i><br />
<br />
The father who took his newborn son and ran out of a
synagogue in
Bnei Brak on Tuesday, just before the child was to be circumcised, has
agreed to explain his motives.<br />
<br />
The father explained he wanted to "redeem his son's
foreskin
with money" in order to avoid fulfilling the commandment to circumcise
newborn boys. In the end, after he was told the circumcision (brit)
would happen with or without him, the father agreed to circumcise his
son that day or on a subsequent day. In the end, the circumcision took
place as planned.<br />
<br />
"Just like every other circumcision, there's a lot of
blood and
a crying baby. It doesn't matter how good the mohel is, cutting a limb
is cutting a limb, and it hurts. I decided it's not going to happen,
I'm not circumcising my son, and I won't circumcise my next son, if I
have one," the father wrote on his blog.<br />
<br />
"I thought," he said, "I'll go in with the baby in a
carseat,
and I'll ask to redeem the foreskin with money instead of doing a
circumcision. It's true that there is no such [redemption] procedure
and I made it up on the spot, but today everyone makes up laws and
rules that are appropriate for the times, so I figured, why not?"<br />
<br />
"And if they don't let me do that, which is what I
figured
would happen, I thought I'd just walk out with the carseat, get in the
first taxi I see and travel to Rishon LeZion with the baby," he said.<br />
<br />
Later, the father told how his plan failed, and
explained that
he had no complaints against the haredi mohel or Rabbi Kanievsky, who
served as sandak (the person who honored with holding the baby during
the circumcision).<br />
<br />
"I trust Rabbi Diament, the mohel and Rabbi Chaim
Kanievsky.
I'm just against physically hurting a baby. The circumcision is what
bothers me," he said.<br />
<br />
Circumcision involves a minimal amount of blood and the
baby,
given a cloth with ceremonial wine on it to suck - and in some places,
aspirin - at first, quiets down and is handed back to his mother for a
feeding. It is the commandment given to the Patriarch Abraham as a sign
of the Jewish People's covenant (brit) with the Almighty.
</div>
Josephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14190648498809795551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-31634588742525933542017-01-23T02:16:00.000-08:002017-01-23T02:16:22.272-08:00BOTSWANA: Men refusing genital cutting<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.gabzfm.com/numbers-males-enrolling-circumcision-worrisome#comment-68569" target="_blank">GABZ</a><br />
October 20, 2016<br />
<h3>
Numbers of males enrolling for Circumcision worrisome
</h3>
The declining rate of men enrolling for the Safe Male
Circumcision SMC is said to be worrisome.<br />
<br />
Addressing a new directions global health workshop in
Gaborone yesterday, the Gaborone DHTM representative, Dr. Martin Azama,
said that they have a target of 5 thousand 305 men to be circumcised in
the period of 2016-2017, but have however only achieved circumcising
868 men. <span style="color: #cc0000;">[<i>This was to be
expected: they have picked all the low-hanging fruit.</i>]</span><br />
<br />
Dr Azama further urged men to come forth and be
circumcised as the exercise is aimed at reducing the rising rate of
sexually transmitted infections in Botswana</div>
Josephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14190648498809795551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-26134371250355191092017-01-23T02:14:00.000-08:002017-01-23T02:14:21.288-08:00ISRAEL: Father rescues son from genital cutting<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Kidnaps?
No, rescues!</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www/" target="_blank">Arutz
Sheva</a><br />
October 18, 2016<br />
<h3>
Secular father kidnaps baby minutes before circumcision</h3>
<b>Formerly religious father runs off with newborn
son moments
before circumcision where Rabbi Kanievsky was set to serve as 'sandak'.</b>
<br />
<i>by Arutz Sheva Staff</i><br />
<br />
A planned circumcision in the city of Bnei Brak
descended into chaos
on Tuesday when the father of the newborn boy snatched the baby up and
bolted in an attempt to thwart his son from undergoing the traditional
Jewish operation.<br />
<br />
The father, a formerly religious man, is adamantly
opposed to
his son taking part in the Jewish rite of passage traditionally
performed on the eighth day after birth.<br />
<br />
The event included one of the haredi world’s leading
rabbinic
figures, Rabbi Haim Kanievsky, who was set to serve as “sandak” – the
person who assists in the circumcision, considered a position of honor.<br />
<br />
A number of families were participating in the joint
event, and
when the turn of the child in question came, his father suddenly
appeared, grabbed him up, and fled.<br />
<br />
While others present at the synagogue where the
circumcisions
were taking place attempted to convince him to recant on his
opposition, the father remained adamant, and left with his son.<br />
<br />
“This was really shocking,” said one of the witnesses.
“The
mother made the effort to invite Rabbi Kanievsky to be the boy’s sandak
– now she’s left weeping bitterly.” <span style="color: #cc0000;">[<i>Unlike
the baby, for a change</i>.]</span>
</div>
Josephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14190648498809795551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-64453950748521950352016-09-25T00:55:00.000-07:002016-09-25T00:55:14.812-07:00UNITED NATIONS: Genital cutting called "child abuse" - but only of girls<b>All good, but why specify "female"?</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/health-36805117" target="_blank">BBC News</a><br />
July 15, 2016<br />
<h3>
FGM is child abuse, says UN Population Fund chief
</h3>
The head of the United Nations Population Fund has, for the first time, described female genital mutilation as "child abuse".<br />
<br />
Dr Babatunde Osotimehin told the BBC that the custom was a human rights abuse and needed to end immediately.<br />
<br />
More than 200 million women and girls around the world have
undergone the procedure, where parts of the female genitals are
removed.<br />
<br />
The UN estimates a further three million are at risk of being mutilated.<br />
<br />
Dr Osotimehin said: "<span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>There is absolutely no reason to cut anybody</b></span>,
and it seemed to us that it is part of the gender imbalance that has
always existed in these communities which are based on patriarchy. I
think it's child abuse."<br />
<br />
The organisation had previously referred to the practice as a
human rights violation, but has stopped short of calling it child
abuse.<br />
<br />
FGM is practiced mainly in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia.<br />
<br />
It involves the partial or total removal of the female external
genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical
reasons.<br />
<br />
Some countries in Africa are working to change traditional perceptions of FGM.<br />
<br />
At the moment about one in five women in Kenya has been cut.<br />
<br />
But the UN children's charity, Unicef, says Kenya could eradicate the practice in the next 15 years.
<br />
However, deeply entrenched traditions in some communities in this region, and across the world, make this a major challenge.
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-84572756765898811812016-09-25T00:51:00.000-07:002016-09-25T00:51:37.407-07:00UGANDA, KENYA: ARVs and education send HIV down, genital cutting gets credit<a href="http://www.dw.com/en/africas-progress-in-the-fight-against-hiv-aids/a-19402206" target="_blank">Deutche Welle</a><br />
July 15, 2016<br />
<h3>
Africa's progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS</h3>
<i>by Hilke Fischer </i><br />
The South African city of Durban is the venue for the
2016 World Aids Conference. Sub-Saharan Africa will feature prominently
on the agenda, a region where the infection rate has decreased by over
40 percent since 2000.<br />
<br />
Which strategies are most effective in the battle
against HIV/AIDS? DW looks at how four African countries are responding
to the challenge.
<br />
...
<br />
<b>Kenya: compulsory HIV/AIDS education</b>
<br />
Fewer than six percent of Kenyans live with HIV/AIDS.
That's about 1.5 million people. The number of new infections also fell
significantly in recent years. In 2005, 28.3 percent of infected
mothers transmitted the virus to their children. Five years later, that
figure had gone down to 8.5 percent.
<br />
Meanwhile, more than 90 percent of all pregnant Kenyan
women go for AIDS tests. In 2000, there were only three health
facilities where Kenyans could consult medical practitioners and get
tested for HIV. In 2010, the number of health facilities offering HIV
consultations had increased to more than 4,000.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">The main reason for
the reduction in the HIV/AIDS prevalence in Kenya is the supply of ARVs.</span>
In 2003, only 6,000 people had access to the medication. Ten years
later, that figure increased to more than 600,000.<br />
<br />
The Kenyan government also regards voluntary male
circumcision as a weapon in the fight against AIDS. This reduces the
risk of infection among men by about 40 percent, <a href="http://circumstitions.com/HIV-SA.html" target="_blank">according to
studies</a>. <span style="color: #cc0000;">Since 2003,
HIV/AIDS education has been a compulsory element in school curriculums</span>.
About 70 percent of the cost in fighting HIV/AIDS in Kenya is footed by
external donors.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">[<i>Could it be that the
education and the ARVs are entirely responsible for the reduction?</i>]</span>
<br />
...
<br />
<b>Uganda: 'Abstinence, faithfulness and condoms'</b>
<br />
In Uganda, the AIDS epidemic reached its peak in the
1990s. Approximately 18 percent of the population was infected with the
virus. The Ugandan government and international aid agencies launched
ambitious and expensive educational programs with the slogan
"Abstinence, faithfulness and condoms."<br />
<br />
The campaign was a success. In 2000, only five percent
of the population was HIV-positive. But, in the meantime, a contrary
trend is emerging. <span style="color: #cc0000;">The number of
new infections in Uganda is rising again</span> for the first
time in ten years. The HIV prevalence rate in the country is now about
seven percent of the population.<br />
<br />
Surprisingly, <span style="color: #cc0000;">a
major reason for this is</span> the widespread usage of ARVs and <span style="color: #cc0000;">the circumcision of men</span>. <span style="color: #cc0000;">Many Ugandans believe that</span> the
ARV therapy can cure the disease completely and that <span style="color: #cc0000;">male circumcision rules out any risk of
infection - as a result, more people are abandoning the use of condoms.<br />
[<i>This is </i><b>NOT</b><i> surprising
- in fact we predicted it, years ago.</i>.]</span>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-14685991539179163092016-09-25T00:48:00.000-07:002016-09-25T00:48:19.496-07:00WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA: Men are resisting genital cutting<b>Namibian
men aren't buying it...</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.coastweek.com/3927-culture-02.htm" target="_blank">Coastweek.com</a><br />
July 2, 2016<br />
<h3>
Namibia’s male circumcision initiative to prevent HIV
faces headwind</h3>
WINDHOEK (Xinhua) -- Circumcised and ready for action?<br />
<br />
These four words that are part of a radio advertisement
currently gracing the airwaves have aroused mixed feelings among
Namibians.<br />
<br />
The advertisement is being run by the health ministry as
part
of a campaign to educate and encourage men to opt for voluntary medical
male circumcision.<br />
<br />
Namibia aims to circumcise 330, 000 men by 2025 but
since the
program was officially launched in 2014, just above 30, 000 have taken
up the offer.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Most Namibian men</span>,
like Windhoek security guards Simeon Hafeni and Gottlieb Kalandu, <span style="color: #cc0000;">are refusing to let go of their foreskins</span>.<br />
<br />
Hafeni, who is from the northern regions of the country
where
circumcision is not compulsory under tribal beliefs, says he does not
see any reason for him to be cut.<br />
<br />
“<span style="color: #cc0000;">What if I get the
cut now, and then tomorrow another disease that needs the foreskin
comes by?</span>” he asks.<br />
<br />
His workmate, Kalandu quips: “<span style="color: #cc0000;">God
was not a fool to create men with a foreskin.</span>”<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">[<i>These
are not the best reasons to stay intact. The best reasons are that the
foreskin is valuable, and that the protection offered, even if true, is
insufficient to substitute cutting for the vastly more protective
condoms.</i>]</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"> </span>
<br />
These two could symbolize the difficulty the health
ministry’s
campaign faces even after rolling out the program as far back as 2009
when the World Health Organization and the United Nations AIDS
Organization (UNAIDS) recommended circumcision as one of an HIV
preventative measure.<br />
<br />
Namibia went on to train more than 260 health care
workers to
provide deal with circumcision, while 33 district hospitals were made
available for the program.<br />
<br />
A national strategic plan for 2010/11-2015/16 drawn up
and
revised in 2013 lists six core program to prevent and control the
spread of HIV in the country including circumcision.<br />
<br />
The strategic plan states that there is need to reach
out to HIV negative adult men and initiate services for adolescents.<br />
<br />
Although health ministry spokesperson Ester Paulus said
that
circumcision is a “low-cost medical intervention”, the strategic plan
shows that more than 200 million Namibian dollars (13 million U.S.
dollars) was set aside for the first three years.<br />
<br />
“Male circumcision is a one-time, low cost medical
intervention, which has been recommended by the WHO as part of a
comprehensive package of HIV prevention.”<br />
<br />
The country also carried out a pilot project in Aug.
2009 in
capital Windhoek and at Oshakati, in the north of the country about 700
kilometers from Windhoek.<br />
<br />
Realizing that fewer men were volunteering, the health
ministry
has been on an aggressive campaign. Apart from the advertisements, the
health minister, Bernard Haufiku, has also been vocal about the need
for men to get the cut.<br />
<br />
When the advertisements were launched in May, Haufiku
said in high HIV prevalence countries like Namibia, <span style="color: #cc0000;">circumcision will at least prevent one in
five infections as it reduces the risk of contracting HIV by 60 percent</span>.
<span style="color: #cc0000;">[<i>This is a
dangerously false way of applying this already-misleading statistic.</i>]</span>
<br />
<br />
Hafeni and Kalandu say they have heard the
advertisements, which they think are humorous.
<br />
“But radio is radio. I don’t believe everything I hear
on radio,” Kalandu says.
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-44815726386662629152016-06-23T15:49:00.000-07:002016-06-23T15:49:07.423-07:00COPENHAGEN: Government claims it is a human right to cut (male) babies' genitals<a href="http://nordic.businessinsider.com/the-danish-government-defends-circumcision-as-a-human-right---even-though-75-are-against-it-2016-6" target="_blank">Business Insider</a><br />
June 16, 2016<br />
<h3>
Denmark defends circumcision as a human right - even though 75% are against it</h3>
<i>by Vilhelm Carlström</i><br />
Even though a large majority of Danes are against the
circumcision of boys, and even though the circumcision of girls is
strictly prohibited in Denmark, the government has now officially
accepted that it's a human right for parents to circumcise their sons.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.thelocal.dk/20141022/denmark-circumcision-ban-support">The
Local reports </a>that a YouGov survey from 2014 showed that 74%
of Danes were against the circumcision of boys, while only 10%
supported the practise. Despite that, about 1000-2000 boys ar
circumcised each year in Denmark, <a href="http://cphpost.dk/news/danish-government-agrees-that-circumcision-is-a-human-right.html">according
to the CPH Post</a>.<br />
<br />
Since 2014, the matter has been reviewed but without
much to show for it.<br />
<br />
In 2015, Denmark decided to delete its registry of
circumcised individuals,<a href="http://www.thelocal.dk/20150806/denmarks-circumcision-registry-illegal">
reports the Local</a>. Now, in a report to the United Nations the
Danish government officially accepts an Egyptian convention which
recognizes circumcision as a human right, <a href="http://cphpost.dk/news/danish-government-agrees-that-circumcision-is-a-human-right.html">writes
CPH Post</a>.<br />
<br />
The basis is that circumcision of boys is rarely
associated with medical complications, when performed under medical
supervision <span style="color: #cc0000;">[<i>this is equally true of the "circumcision" of girls in Indonesia and Malaysia</i>]</span>, and that it's viewed as a religious expression and
therefore falls under the freedom of religion right.<br />
<br />
Circumcision of boys will therefore remain legal as it
complies with Danish law and is carried out by a doctor.<br />
<br />
<strong>Male circumcision can lead to a more
problematic sex life. </strong><br />
Contrary to claims that circumcision in males is
unproblematic, however,<a href="http://dyspareunia/"> a
Danish study</a> published in the International Journal of
Epidemiology in 2011 finds that circumcision leads to frequent orgasm
difficulties in Danish men. The study also finds that women who are the
sexual partners of circumcised men also have significantly higher
orgasm difficulties, more problems with painful intrcourse
(dyspareunia), and more often feel a sense a incomplete fulfillment of
sexual needs. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-42289575569745408202016-06-23T15:44:00.000-07:002016-06-23T15:44:48.508-07:00JERUSALEM: Metzitzah: Two boys contract herpes<a href="http://m.jpost.com/Israel-News/Two-recent-cases-herpes-in-babies-following-Brit-Milah-455759#article=6020Njc2QTQyODY1NkM0NTVFNEFEOUJFMkZGRDUzMzVFNTM=" target="_blank">The Jerusalem Post</a><br />
June 3, 2016<br />
<h3>
Two recent cases [of] herpes in babies following Brit
Milah</h3>
<i>by Jeremy Sharon</i><br />
The Schneider Children’s Medical Center for Israel in
Petah Tikva has reported two recent cases in which baby boys have been
infected with the herpes virus following their brit mila.<br />
<br />
The infections are believed to be the result of ritual
circumcisions in which the metzitza ba’peh procedure was used, whereby
the mohel, or person performing the circumcision, uses his mouth to
suction blood off the penis after the foreskin has been cut off.<br />
<br />
This practice is mentioned in the Talmud and
codifications of Jewish law, but is now uncommon outside of the haredi
community because of the risk of infection, and suction is achieved
instead by means of a sterile plastic tube.<br />
<br />
According to Schneider, one baby was released last week
after having been infected with herpes, while another baby was admitted
to the hospital two months ago with the same disease.<br />
<br />
“Both children were quickly examined, treated
appropriately and released in excellent condition. Both of them will
continue to receive oral treatment until the age of six months,”
Schneider said.
<br />
The hospital reiterated its backing of suction via a
tube instead of by mouth “to avoid this difficult infection.”<br />
<br />
According to Rabbi Moshe Marciano, director of the
circumcision division of the Chief Rabbinate, the infected babies did
not have the same mohel.<br />
<br />
In one case, the mohel was the father of the infected
baby, and is not an authorized mohel, while the second family refused
to give the details of the mohel who performed the circumcision.<br />
<br />
The Health Ministry confirmed that only one mohel had
been identified, but did not indicate that is was the father of the
baby.<br />
<br />
Marciano said metzitza ba’peh is an approved practice
for mohels authorized by the Chief Rabbinate, but added that parents
can request that it not be used and the mohel is obliged to conform.<br />
<br />
He also said that rabbinate guidelines state if the
mohel has any wound or infection in his mouth he must not do metzitza
ba’peh.<br />
<br />
Metziza ba’peh has caused controversy in recent years,
most notably in New York where at least 17 cases of herpes have been
reported since 2000, resulting in two deaths.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://circumstitionsnews.blogspot.jp/2015/11/new-york-metzitzah-city-not-telling.html" target="_blank">Earlier story</a>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-52119482061648183412016-06-23T15:41:00.000-07:002016-06-23T15:41:10.151-07:00CAIRO: Girl dies after genital cutting<a href="http://www.inquisitr.com/3161434/female-genital-mutilation-results-in-death-of-17-year-old-egyptian-girl-maya-mohamed-mousa/#EWpIzUKtLUo0ye64.99" target="_blank">The Inquistr</a><br />
June 2, 2016<br />
<h3>
Female Genital Mutilation Results In Death Of
17-Year-Old Egyptian Girl Maya Mohamed Mousa</h3>
<i>by Lindsay McCane </i><br />
Maya Mohamed Mousa, a 17-year-old Egyptian girl, has
died after
undergoing an illegal procedure known as female genital mutilation, or
female circumcision.<br />
<br />
According to Reuters, Mousa and her twin sister arrived
at the
private El Canal Hospital in Suez to undergo female circumcision on
Sunday. Although the procedure was performed under anesthesia, Mousa
died after experiencing heavy bleeding. Thankfully, Maya’s sister
survived.<br />
<br />
Sedkhi Sidhom, an official from Egypt’s health ministry,
said
the hospital has since been shut down, and Egyptian prosecutors are
investigating Mousa’s death.<br />
<br />
“Not all cases of female circumcision are reported
across
Egypt. There are cases of circumcision where the women die and are then
buried without a word being mentioned,” Sidhom said.<br />
<br />
While there are thousands of deaths due to FGM each
year, many
go without being acknowledged. However, there are some that make
headlines like Mousa’s. Last year, Raslan Fadl, a medical doctor, was
convicted of manslaughter in Egypt’s first female genital mutilation
trial after a 13-year-old girl died during a botched procedure. Suad
Abu-Dayyeh, Middle East and North Africa consultant at rights group
Equality Now, said Fadl was sentenced to more than two years in prison,
but has yet to serve time behind bars.<br />
<br />
“It is incredible that the Egyptian police are not
taking a
tough line on ending FGM in a country where over 27 million have been
affected,” Abu-Dayyeh said in a statement. “The death of the
17-year-old should be yet another shocking wake up call for Egypt.” <br />
...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4494622260825118276.post-62127803339079314672016-06-23T15:39:00.000-07:002016-06-23T15:39:04.084-07:00WASHINGTON, DC: Bill protects boy-baby-genital-cutting, ritual slaughter as "religious freedom"<b>Freedom
to cut babies, but not from being cut</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/House-passes-bill-protecting-circumcision-ritual-slaughter-as-religious-freedoms-454367?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter" target="_blank">The Jerusalem Post</a><br />
May 19, 2016<br />
<h3>
House passes bill protecting circumcision, ritual slaughter as
religious freedoms
</h3>
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A bill unanimously approved by the
U.S. House of
Representatives would extend religious protections to advocates of
circumcision and ritual slaughter as well as atheists, addressing what
its sponsors describe as an increase in religious persecution in recent
years.<br />
<br />
The bill, passed Monday, would broaden the definition of
“violations of religious freedom” in the International Religious
Freedom Act of 1998 to include <span style="color: #cc0000;">the
persecution of advocates of male
circumcision or ritual animal slaughter</span>. <span style="color: #cc0000;">[<i>Does that include any opposition
to male genital cutting or ritual slaughter?</i>]</span>
Atheists would become a new
protected class. <br />
<br />
The measure, which moves to the Senate for
consideration, was
named for retired Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., a longtime champion of human
rights who authored the 1998 law.
<br />
<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, Times, serif;"><span class="lbexSimplecap">114th CONGRESS</span><br />
<span class="lbexSimplecap">2D Session</span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/1150/text" target="_blank"><small><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, Times, serif;"><big><big><big><big><b><span class="lbexLegisNum">H. R. 1150</span></b></big></big></big></big></span></small></a></div>
<hr style="width: 40%;" />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, Times, serif;"><span class="lbexChamber">IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="lbexSimplecap">May 17, 2016</span>
</div>
<div class="lbexHang" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="lbexHangSmalllWithMargin" style="text-align: left;">
Received; read twice and
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations</div>
</div>
</span></span></div>
<hr style="width: 40%;" />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, Times, serif;"><big><big><b><span class="lbexLegisType">AN ACT</span></b></big></big></span></div>
<div class="lbexHangWithMargin" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, Times, serif;">To amend <a href="http://uscode.house.gov/statviewer.htm?volume=112&page=2792#" target="_blank">the International
Religious Freedom Act of 1998</a> to improve the ability of the
United
States to advance religious freedom globally through enhanced
diplomacy, training, counterterrorism, and foreign assistance efforts,
and through stronger and more flexible political responses to religious
freedom violations and violent extremism worldwide, and for other
purposes.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, Times, serif;"><em>
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,<br />
</em>SEC. 102. <span class="lbexSectionlevelOLC">
<span class="lbexAllcap">Annual Report on
International Religious Freedom</span>.</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="HEB228BCF936A42CE97728BCD6136B25F"> </a></span>
<div class="lbexIndent" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, Times, serif;">(a)
<span class="lbexSectionLevelOLCnuclear">In
general</span>.—Section 102(b)(1) of the International Religious
Freedom Act of 1998 (<a href="http://uscode.house.gov/quicksearch/get.plx?title=22&section=6412">22
U.S.C. 6412(b)(1)</a>)<br />
["Each Annual Report {of the Ambassador at Large for International
Religious Freedom} shall contain the following:"]<br />
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, Times, serif;">
is amended—</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, Times, serif;">(3)
in subparagraph (B)
["Violations of Religious Freedom"], in the matter preceding clause (i)
["An asseessment and description of the nature and extent of violations
of religious freedom in each foreign country, including persecution of
one religious group by another religious group, religious persecution
by governmental and non-governmental entitites, persecution targeted at
individuals or particular denominations or entire religions..."—<br />
<br />
(A)
by inserting “persecution of lawyers, politicians, or other human
rights advocates seeking to defend the rights of members of religious
groups or highlight religious freedom violations, <span style="color: #cc0000;">prohibitions on</span> ritual<br />
animal slaughter or <span style="color: #cc0000;">male infant
circumcision</span>,” after “entire religions,”...</span><br />
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<br />
<br />
“The world is experiencing an unprecedented crisis of
international religious freedom, a crisis that continues to create
millions of victims; a crisis that undermines liberty, prosperity and
peace; a crisis that poses a direct challenge to the U.S. interests in
the Middle East, Russia, China and sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere,”
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who authored the bill, said in a statement.<br />
<br />
There have been increasing calls in recent years in
northern
European countries for an end to circumcision and ritual slaughter,
spurred in part by anti-Muslim hostility <span style="color: #cc0000;">[<i>but
mainly by a well-founded concern for human rights</i>]</span>,
U.S. government and European
Jewish officials have said. <span style="color: #cc0000;">[<i>And
that constitutes "persecution of advocates" how?</i>]</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"> </span>
<br />
The bill’s tier system for how well or poorly countries
protect
religious freedom would be similar to the one used in the annual State
Department report on human trafficking. That report is influential, and
countries seeking the good graces of the United States strive to
improve their ranking by cracking down on the practice.<br />
<br />
Smith is the chairman of the House subcommittee on human
rights, and as a co-chairman of the Helsinki Committee, the
congressional panel that monitors human rights overseas, has made the
resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe a focus.<br />
<br />
Smith’s office, announcing the passage of the bill,
headlined
the statement “Combating Persecution of Christians and Anti-Semitism,”
although many of its protections would extend in the current climate to
moderate Sunni Muslims and non-Sunni Muslim sects in the Middle East,
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Myanmar.<br />
<br />
Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., the bill’s lead Democratic
sponsor,
said in the same statement that the bill would “better address the
religious freedom and violent extremism problems being experienced in
the 21st century.”<br />
<br />
The bill integrates the 1998 law’s protections into U.S.
national security priorities, mandating that the ambassador at large
for religious freedom – currently Rabbi David Saperstein, a veteran
Reform movement leader — report directly to the secretary of state. It
also adds new requirements for presidential reporting to Congress on
religious freedom violations and training for diplomats in identifying
violations of religious freedoms. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0