KENYA: Boy circumcised without mother's consent / ISRAEL: Plea from mother

November 28, 2013

Circumcision without consent - two heartfelt complaints

From Kenya:
"I'm a very irritated man today.
"I've been away from home for some time now.I went home today,and was shocked to find that my 10-year old nephew was circumcised last Friday. I was infuriated, boarded a vehicle to the clinic to seek clarification from the doctor who took him from school together with other young boys for the cut. My mother did not sign the consent form, his mother did not sign the consent,and I was away. The child is now in pain, and could not even answer the questions I asked him today when I went home. I'm really saddened by this,because my conversation with the mutilator did not yield any fruitful outcome.My mother says there's nothing we can do about it!...

While in the clinic yard, I saw them ferry boys into the compound using their pickup trucks. Some had just undergone the operation. I couldn't help being their. I had my camera, but couldn't take any picture. The clinic is Ober Health Centre. Really, I'm lost for words to describe my anger. I talked to two of the doctors, one could not stay longer during the conversation because I could see my facts were a bu[r]den to him so he walked away into one of the pickups and drove away. The one who carried on the conversation, later offered to give me a job with the Nyanza Reproductive Society saying that I should report to their offices tomorrow. He gave me his phone number!... "

- from a Kenyan Intactivist on Facebook.

The Secretary of the Board of the "Nyanza Reproductive Health Society" is Dr Robert Bailey, who led one of the three trials claiming to show circumcision protects against HIV. Also connected is Prof Kawango Agot, whose name appears on several papers promoting circumcision. It's basically a front for circumcisionism, and a job with it would not be at all secure.

---

From Israel:
Elinor Daniel, the mother of a boy ordered to be circumcised by a rabbinic court, writes:
"Help!!! I'm asking for the help of the public!!! I am a mother to a baby. The Rabbinical Court is forcing me to cut my year old son against my will (circumcise him) while subjecting me to heavy financial sanctions daily!!!

After my exposure to the information regarding circumcision, I refuse to mutilate my baby. I don't have the right and I do not agree! He was born whole and he will stay whole! His integrity is his full right! The Religious Court has no right to do that! No one in the whole world is authorized to force me to mutilate my son, to cut his penis!

What kind of a state is this?!!! What is this??? Where do we live??? Could the Religious Court force upon me anything during the divorce? In particular, religious oppression, unnecessary cutting of the penis of an helpless baby??? A non-reversible surgical operation!!! A foreskin does not renew itself! The baby can not express his own will. The right to decide is his alone. It is his body!! The right, is not mine, nor anyone else's in the entire world, but his own only!!!

I am pleading for help!!! I love my son very much!!! I do not want to hurt him!!! Please pass this message on to anyone possible so it won't be a precedent for future divorce cases in the Rabbinical Court which authorizes itself to force religious oppression upon a nonreligious divorcing person! Why does the religious court take advantage of its monopoly on marriage???!! It's a degrading abuse of power, used for religious oppression!!! Religion has to be voluntary from the heart, not by force and financial penalties!

Where do we live??? Where is the supervision??? Where is the government???!!! I am crying for help!!! Unfortunately, here, in the state of Israel!!! Mother"

- Elinor Daniel

Donate to support Elinor
Israeli women demonstrate in support of Elinor:

"Find alternative requirements" "Rights of the man over his body!" "Iran [theocracy] Is Here and Now!" "[Hands off the] penis of my boy!"

Toronto Star

Haaretz: No to forced circumcision: Civil courts need to send an important message that individual rights take precedence over religious customs, however widespread they are....

An interview with Elinor

Earlier story

KENYA: Infant circumcision "safe" - Bailey at work again

AllAfrica.com
November 5, 2012

Kenya: Scientists Give Infant Circumcision Go-Ahead

By Samuel Otieno
RESEARCHERS have given a nod to infant male circumcision. A recent research of more than 1,200 infant male circumcisions performed at government hospitals in Nyanza province shows the procedure is safe among infants.

The study suggests that the best time for performing the procedure is below one month to avoid complications. The study was conducted by chief investigator Marisa Young of the University of Illinois at Chicago's School of Public Health and colleagues.

Others are the Nyanza Reproductive Health Society, CARE, International and Impact Research and Development Organisation. It was funded by the Male Circumcision Consortium, with support for co-author Professor Robert Bailey from the Chicago Developmental Centre for AIDS.

The study is part of the wider programme to fight HIV/Aids through circumcision. Research shows that circumcision reduces HIV infection by more than 60 per cent. [No study has shown that infant circumcision has any effect on HIV transmission.]

KENYA: Funds for circumcision misused, cut

Standard Media (Kenya)
September 25, 2012

Report decries misuse of funds meant for male cut

By Mangoa Mosota
A donor’s report on an NGO dealing with male circumcision has unearthed widespread misappropriation of funds.

As a result, the annual funding may be slashed from over Sh500 million [$US5,900,000] to less than Sh100 million [$US1,180,000].

Following the budget cut, Nyanza Reproductive Health Society (NRHS) has dismissed 250 workers.

...

The organisation’s director, Walter Obiero said the action has been taken due to cut in funding. He, however, declined to state annual funding to the body since its inception three years ago. But employees The Standard spoke to gave the figure of Sh595 million [$US7,021,000].

Technical support
The report dated August 21, 2012, of which The Standard has a copy, details massive financial impropriety. The assessment was done by the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, US. They are Procurement and Grant Office (PGO), and Programme Budget and Extramural Management Branch. CDC offers technical support to NRHS, which is based in Kisumu, with operations spread across the country.

CDC has categoriosed NRHS as a ‘high-risk’ organisation, which means that other donors should be wary of it. “NRHS is required to work with CDC Kenya on revising their application to conform to the decreased scope of activities,” reads part of the report.

Among the impropriety is that NRHS went outside its approved CDC budget, and purchased 25 vehicles without CDC or NRHS Board of Directors consent.

“The organisation can spend Sh1 million [$US11,800] on imprest, in less than two weeks. Our assessment found gross mismanagement of the funds. HRHS does not have a limit on the amount of petty cash,” states part of the report that is signed by Shirley Wynn of PGO.

Furthermore, the report reveals contract salaries for workers differ from those they are paid. For instance, an employee’s salary is Sh35,280 [$US416.30], but the contract amount is Sh25,000 [$US295] although the report finding states that the difference can be accounted for.

...

Nyanza Reproductive Health Society ... is funded by President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief.

KENYA: Parents can be talked into accepting infant circumcision - Dr Robert Bailey, one man, many hats

AllAfrica.com
July 2, 2012

Kenya: Nyanza Residents Warm Up to Infant Male Circumcision

By Samuel Otieno
THE National Male Circumcision taskforce got a major boost in its strategy to focus circumcision on infants after 92 percent of the parents agreed to the strategy. The research, conducted by the University of Illinois and the Nyanza Reproductive Health Society to assess the acceptability of infant male circumcision, said many parents want their children to be circumcised at certain ages.
[This sounds like two independent bodies, but the Secretary of the Board of the Nyanza Reproductive Health Society is Dr Robert Bailey, who is a Professor of Epidemiology and an adjunct professor of Anthropology in the University of Chicago at Illinois. Prof. Bailey also led the Kenya study that claimed to find circumcising men reduces their risk of contracting HIV. Can you say "one man band"?
It's a neat strategy, to conduct a "push" poll (a well known tactic in politics, a poll with questions loaded to give the answers you want) about parents' willingness to circumcise infants. Then spin the results as if they are good reasons to circumcise infants. There is no evidence whatsoever that infant circumcison has any effect on the transmission of HIV. (The studies claiming reduction were carried out on adult volunteers.)]
 
Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) programmes like Kenya's focus on reducing HIV infections by increasing uptake of male circumcision among adult men and adolescents. The study, published in the Paediatrics journal, sampled 627 women and 493 men in Nyanza and found out that Fathers are the primary decision makers on whether to circumcise their infant sons. [No infant ever volunteers to have part of his or her genitals cut off.]
 
The study was conducted from March to October 2010 at five government hospitals focussed on reality of acceptability and decision-making among parents who had accepted or declined the offer of IMC. Mothers were approached individually and asked whether they would like to have their infant sons circumcised. Those who accepted were asked by the researchers for permission to contact their husbands.

The research found out that mothers appeared to belief that circumcised men experience more sexual pleasure, while fathers were more likely to accept IMC if they thought women enjoyed sex more with circumcised men. Mothers also cited protection against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, penile hygiene and religious reasons.

Fathers gave similar reasons, but many cited penile hygiene as the main reason for accepting IMC. Reasons given against the IMC by mothers were pain, risk of injury or complications, deferring circumcision to an older age, opposition by the father and reluctance to go against cultural tradition.

Fathers cited going against tradition as their main reason against circumcision. Most parents did not oppose male circumcision while 92 percent want their sons to be circumcised at some age. IMC is rarely practised in Eastern and Southern Africa.