NORWAY: Hospital ritually cuts first baby

The Local (Norway)
March 10, 2015

Norway hospital does first ritual circumcision

A newborn baby had his foreskin surgically removed on Monday under local anaesthetic, while his Muslim parents waited outside the operating room.

“They were very happy,” Ole Tysland, head of surgery at Sørlandet Hospital in Kristiansand, said of the couple. “Most people are glad that we now have the possibility to do this in the hospital.”

Tysland said that several doctors in his hospital believed carrying out the operation was unethical.
“They would say that this is a type of surgery that is not indicated. It’s more a tradition than a necessary operation,” he said. “But they don’t have to do it. We have found other doctors that don’t mind, so we use a doctor who thinks this is OK.”

He said that the hospital did not allow religious officials, or even the children’s parents, into the operating theatre while the circumcision was taking place.

“They stand outside the door and they take the child when we come out with it, and I don’t think it’s a problem. They accept this way of doing it.”

Ritual circumcision has in theory been available under Norway’s public health system since January 1st, following a bill in parliament in 2013.

But it has taken several months for hospitals to start carrying out the operation.

Dr Tysland said that Sørlandet was only offering ritual circumcision to boys under four weeks old, as otherwise the child would require an expensive general anaesthetic.

Norwegian Health Minister Bent Høie caused an uproar in the international Jewish community when he first proposed regulating circumcision, known as Brit Milah in the Jewish community, at the start of last year.

In the end, Norway’s government stopped short of mandating hospital circumcision, instead only insisting that a doctor must be present.

It did, however, rule that public hospitals must start offering the operation to encourage Jewish and Muslim parents to have it done in the safest possible way.

NORWAY: Doctors defy law, refuse to cut

News in English (Norway)
January 22, 2015

Doctors defy new circumcision law

by Nina Berglund

Since January 1st, all of Norway’s state-run hospitals have become legally obliged to offer circumcision of newborn baby boys. A majority of doctors all over the country, however, have been refusing to perform the operation that’s often part of religious rituals, claiming it’s an unnecessary surgical procedure on otherwise healthy infants.

Only one hospital in all of southeastern Norway is officially offering to circumcise newborns, according to an internal document obtained by newspaper Dagsavisen. In a response to the state health ministry’s request for a status report on circumcision, state agency Helse Sør-Øst (Health Southeast) wrote on January 16 that only the hospital in Kristiansand (Sørlandet Sykehus) offered to circumcise newborn baby boys. A few others offered circumcision only to boys more than a year old.

Strong opposition
At Akershus University Hospital (Ahus) northeast of Oslo, fully 13 of its 15 urologists have submitted written statements reserving themselves against performing circumcision. “The opposition to this emerged before the law on circumcision was approved,” Dr Anja Løvvik, leader of the urology department at Ahus, told Dagsavisen this week. “The fact that many (doctors) want to reserve themselves against this should not be unexpected.” Her colleague Dr Frode Steinar Nilsen at Ahus called circumcision “a surgical operation with no health advantages and one that, as with all surgery, carries with it a risk and a burden for the child. That’s why we don’t want to perform it.”

Doctors, however, have no right to reserve themselves against the procedure in the new law, making their resistance potentially illegal, according to state secretary Cecilie Brein-Karlsen at the health ministry. She told newspapers VG and Dagsavisen that Norway’s public health system must now offer the procedure to parents who want their baby boys circumcised. The Parliament approved the new law last year after reports that babies in Norway risked being seriously injured during circumcision rituals performed outside the health care sector. One baby boy died in Oslo in 2012.

The law was approved by a large majority in Parliament but not without controversy. Doctors’ and nurses’ professional organizations opposed it as did many individual Members of Parliament, but they followed their parties’ lines. In addition to fearing that circumcision would continue to be performed by non-health professionals in Norway, party leaders didn’t want to be seen as being either anti-Jewish or anti-Muslim, since circumcision is traditional in the Jewish and Muslim communities. Others pointed to how millions of men around the world are circumcised including a majority of American men regardless of religious persuasion.

Fending off any ‘fear of foreigners’
“I think many (MPs) were afraid to be accused of anti-Semitism or fear of foreigners,” Jenny Klinge, an MP for the Center Party, told Dagsavisen. She unsucessfully proposed offering hospital circumcision only to males over the age of 18, when they could decide themselves if they wanted to be circumcised. Klinge added that she could understand the health care professionals’ opposition to performing circumcision: “It is in principle wrong for the state to carry out such surgery on babies. One shouldn’t cut into small children in the name of God.”

US health authorities view male circumcision positively, but their Norwegian counterparts don’t. Some doctors’ attempts to reserve themselves against performing abortions also have sparked controversy, not least last winter, but Nilsen of Ahus is adamant: “If (politicians) think they can force an entire profession to perform surgery they feel is wrong both medically and morally, I think that’s remarkable.”

Brein-Karlsen told Dagsavisen that she also understands “that this is a difficult issue.” She said hospitals should take the doctors’ objections into consideration, “but the regional health agencies are still responsible for making sure that an offer (of circumcision) is there.”

Ahus, located in Lørenskog, has estimated that parents of as many as 400 babies a year may request circumcision, and worry they won’t have the capacity to perform it. “Children who need other operations are already having to wait,” Løvvik said. “If we have to offer circumcision, they may need to wait even longer.” Ahus has told expectant parents that it will only offer the procedure after the child is a year old, at the earliest. Hospitals in Bærum, Drammen and Ringerike have set an age limit at two years, while Oslo University Sykehus was expected to start offering ritual circumcision next month, for boys over one year of age.


Earlier story

OSLO, NORWAY: Ritual cutting to be publicly funded

The Nordic Page (Norway)
January 1, 2015

These are New Rules in Norway by 2015

Female conscription, cheaper online shopping from overseas, more flexible alcohol sale, legalized poker and changes in abortion laws are among the most controversial changes that have been in force by 2015. ...

New rules on circumcision: Public hospitals can implement ritual circumcision of male children with state reimbursement. [Almost all the boys will be Muslim and hence  old enough to remember it, not newborn. How do Norwegian taxpayers feel about paying for this?]

OSLO, NORWAY: Parliament agrees to allow ritual circumcision in hospitals at public expense

Vårt land (Denmark) 14 June, 2014 Samlet ja til omskjæringslov Hele Stortinget ønsker lov om rituell omskjæring av gutter. Ingjerd Våge Etter flere år på høring og dragkamper i flere partier, får Norge nå en lov om rituell omskjæring av gutter. I går ble det kjent at hele helsekomiteen på Stortinget støtter regjeringens forslag til ny lov. – Gledelig. Årlig omskjæres omlag 2.000 guttebarn i Norge – de aller fleste av disse er muslimer. Inngrepene har i stor grad vært utført privat, men nå sikrer Storting at omskjæring blir en del av spesialisthelsetjenesten. Inngrepet kan dermed utføres på offentlig sykehus eller på private klinikker etter avtale med det offentlig. – Dette er meget gledelig, sier forstander i Det Mosaiske Trossamfund, Ervin Kohn og legger til: – Denne loven vil gjøre at Norge står frem som et lys blant nasjonene. Det har nærmest vært en kampanje mot omskjæring i Skandinavia, ledet an av Norge. Men det som nå skjer er at omskjæring blir regulert på en god måte. Negativ høring. Da saken var oppe til høring i stortingskomiteen var det kun organisasjoner som er negative til omskjæring som møtte. En av dem var Barneombudet. – Dersom vi hadde begynt med denne praksisen i dag, hadde vi da ment det var akseptabelt å skjære i friske guttebarns kjønnsorganer på et offentlig sykehus, spurte fagsjef hos Barneombudet, Camilla Kayed, den gang. Religiøs identitet. Stortinget har også vurdert på de etiske aspektene ved ritualet, men konkluderer med at omskjæring av guttebarn er «tett sammenvevd med majoriteten av jøders og muslimers religiøse identitet». De påpeker at rituell omskjæring er et vanlig inngrep i store deler av verden. Verdens helseorganisasjon anslår at rundt 30 prosent av alle menn på verdensbasis, i alderen 15 år og eldre, er omskåret. Egenbetaling. Helsekomiteen understreker at rituell omskjæring ikke kan defineres som nødvendig helsehjelp. Det skal derfor ikke fortrenge annen behandling i spesialisthelsetjenesten. I innstillingen er komiteen delt når det kommer til egenbetaling. ...

Bing translation June 13, 2014 Unanimous "Yes" to circumcision law The entire Parliament would like the law on ritual circumcision of boys. by Ingjerd Våge After several years at the hearing and tensions in several parties, Norway is now to get a law on the ritual circumcision of boys. Yesterday, it was announced that the entire Health Committee to the Norwegian Parliament supports the Government's proposal for a new law. "Gratifying" - About 2,000 male children are circumcised every year in Norway - the vast majority of these are Muslims. The intervention has largely been carried out in private, but now the Storting (Parliament) ensures that circumcision is a part of the specialist health service. The procedure can thus be carried out in public hospitals or in private clinics by appointment with the public. "This is very gratifying," said the head of the Jewish Religious Community, Ervin Kohn, and added: -This law will make Norway stand out as a light among the Nations. It has almost been a campaign against circumcision in Scandinavia, led by Norway. But what is now happening is that circumcision is regulated in a good way. Negative hearing. When the case was being heard in the Parliamentary Committee, only organizations that are negative to the circumcision came to the meeting. One of them was the Children's Ombudsman. -If we had started with this practice today, we had back then meant it was acceptable to cut into healthy boys' children's genitals in a public hospital, asked ... the Ombudsman, Camilla Kayed, at that time. Religious identity. The Parliament also considered on the ethical aspects of the ritual, but concludes that the circumcision of male children is "tightly interwoven with the majority of the turn and the Muslims ' religious identity." They point out that ritual circumcision is a common intervention in large parts of the world. The World Health Organization estimates that about 30 percent of all men on a worldwide basis, aged 15 years and older, are circumcised. Copayment. The Health Committee stressed that ritual circumcision cannot be defined as necessary health care. It should, therefore, not displace any other treatment by the specialist health service. In the setting is the Committee divided when it comes to the copayment. ...

VG 16.06.2014 Flertall i Stortinget for rituell omskjæring Stortinget sier mandag ja til rituell omskjæring av guttebarn. Men inngrepet skal kun utføres av offentlig helsepersonell. ... Også Senterpartiet, som tidligere har markert motstand mot omskjæring, har stilt seg bak vedtaket for å sørge for at inngrepet skjer i trygge former. Men partiet har samtidig fristilt sine medlemmer i saken, og tre av Sps stortingsrepresentanter, anført av Jenny Klinge, har kommet med et tilleggsforslag om at det fastsettes en nedre aldersgrense på 18 år. - Det som plager meg, er uviljen hos mange mot å diskutere om det er prinsipielt riktig skjære vekk friske kroppsdeler på småbarn, når ungen verken har mulighet til å samtykke eller nekte, sa Klinge da saken var til debatt i Stortinget mandag.

Bing translation June 16, 2014 Majority in the Storting for the ritual circumcision The Parliament says Yes to the ritual Monday, the circumcision of male children. But the procedure should only be performed by public health personnel. ... Also, the Center Party, who has previously highlighted opposition to circumcision, have lined up behind the decision to make sure that the procedure takes place in safe forms. But the party has at the same time free its members in the case, and three of the Sps parliamentary representatives, led by Jenny Klinge, has come with an additional proposal that it be determined a lower age limit of 18 years. -The thing that bothers me, is the uviljen with a lot of courage to discuss whether it is fundamentally the right cutting off healthy body parts of the young children, when your kid does not have the opportunity to consent or refuse, said Klinge when the case was to debate in Parliament on Monday.

NORWAY: Nurses want to age-restrict circumcision

The Tablet
March 21, 2014

Norway's Nurses Campaign For Circumcision Ban [Age-restriction]

Health Minister says he doesn't plan to outlaw the practice
by Stephanie Butnick
While Norway announced plans to introduce anti-circumcision legislation in early 2014, so far no such bills have been brought forward. While the country’s health ministry says they will issue new guidelines before the summer—which Health Minister Bent Hoie maintains will not include outlawing the practice—a group of Norwegian nurses are pushing for a ban on non-medical circumcision for males under 15 years old.

JTA reports that the Norwegian Nurses Organization met with members of the health ministry to make their case for a country-wide ban on ritual circumcision, with the director of the group likening the practice to female circumcision and arguing that boys should be able to decide, at 15 or 16 years old, whether or not to undergo the rite.

Given the relatively low number of circumcisions that performed in Norway each year—a few months ago Aftenposten estimated the figure to be around 2,000 Muslim and just seven Jewish newborns annually—it’s hard to not see this as a religiously motivated campaign. The Norwegian Nurses Organization director essentially admitted as much, saying in an interview that though “the Jews are a small group in Norway, they have been allowed to influence the debate on this issue.”
[Since the nurses have no objection to voluntary adult religious circumcision, it is hard to see this as religiously motivated.]

The nurses’ request was met with deaf ears—for now. According to JTA, “In an interview for Aftenposten Wednesday, Health Minister Bent Hoie said his draft for the regulations proposes all circumcisions take place in hospitals but that he has no plans to ban the practice.”

Earlier story

NORWAY: Minister wants to mandate hospital circumcision

The Local (Norway)
March 19, 2014

Norway [Minister wants] to mandate hospital circumcision

Norway's Health Minister Bent Høie will propose that hospitals take the lead in carrying out ritual circumcisions on Jewish and Muslim baby boys, when the results of a government consultation are passed to the country's parliament for discussion in the coming weeks.

"If the children are circumcised in hospitals by competent personnel, we will prevent complications," Høie told Aftenposten newspaper. "This is the most realistic way to ensure the little guys against damage. All the other proposals risk exposing the boys to injury."
[Circumcision is injury, and hospital circumcision can only reduce, not prevent, complications.]
Høie stressed that his government had never considered an outright ban on circumcision, despite scare stories late last year in the Israeli and diaspora Jewish media.

"A ban on something that is so common for religious or cultural reasons would not be for the good of the children," he argued.
[Many evils were once common for religious or cultural reasons, before they were stopped.]

He estimated that some 2,000 ritual circumcisions would be carried out in Norwegian hospitals annually, and said that the government had yet to decide who would bear the cost.

Anne Lindboe, Norway Children’s Ombudswoman last year called for circumcision to be banned on boys under the age of 16.

“This is not due to any lack of understanding of minorities or religious traditions, but because the procedure is irreversible, painful and risky,” she argued.

OSLO: "Norway will never outlaw circumcision" - Foreign Minister

Never is a long time....

European Jewish Press
February 5, 2014

'The Norwegian Government has never considered banning circumcision and it never will'

by Maud Swinnen
BRUSSELS (EJP)---The Norwegian government has never considered banning circumcision and ‘’it never will,’’ is the message of Norway's Foreign Minister conveyed Wednesday by the Ambassador to Belgium, Niels Engelschion, to a Jewish delegation during a meeting in Brussels.

In November, Norway's Children Ombudswoman proposed to ban non-medical circumcision of minors and Norway's Health Minister announced himself that his Government was pursuing a legislation banning circumcision in the Scandinavian country and that the Parliament was expected to vote on it in April.

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Director General of the European Jewish Association (EJA) had called on the Norwegian Foreign and Health Ministers ‘’to act decisively in order to ensure freedom of religion in the country.’’

He also urged Israeli officials to turn to their Norwegian counterparts and protest this ‘’devastating’’ legislation for Jewish communities across the country.

In response, Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende asked the Ambassador in Brussels to meet with Rabbi Margolin and European Jewish Community Center (EJCC) Director Avi Tawil to make the pledge that the Norwegian government ‘’will never consider banning circumcision in the country".

Ambassador Engelschion added that the government respects the Jewish community and will protect its freedom of religion.

Rabbi Margolin thanked the Ambassador for his government's commitment and said: "Calls to ban non-medical circumcision of minors in Norway, as it is a violation of human rights, are not supported by any scientific facts. Modern medicine, including non- Jewish international health organizations advocate circumcision and its contribution to preventing diseases.’’

In other Scandinavian countries, Sweden and Denmark, medical associations have also recommended banning non-medical circumcision of boys. Sweden’s Minister for Integration, Erik Ullenhag, assured however that existing rules that allow for ritual circumcision would not be changed.

Earlier story

NEW YORK: World Jewish Congress opposes Swedish and Danish doctors

European Jewish Press
January 31, 2014

World Jewish Congress protests calls by Swedish and Danish physicians to ban religious circumcision

by Maud Swinnen Friday, 31 January 2014 15:30
NEW YORK/STOCKHOLM/ (EJP)---The World Jewish Congress has strongly protested calls by Swedish and Danish medical associations for a ban [age-restriction] on religious male circumcision.

In Sweden, the recommendation came in a resolution unanimously adopted last week by the ethics council of the Sweden Medical Association — a union whose members constitute 85 percent of the country’s physicians, according to Swedish daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.

It recommended setting 12 as the minimum age for the procedure and the boy’s consent.

Jewish religious circumcision, or brit milah, is performed eight days after birth. Muslims typically circumcise boys before they turn the age of 10.

In Denmark, the Danish College of General Practitioners, which has 3,000 members, argued that non-medical circumcision of boys amounted to ‘’abuse and mutilation.’’

“We are not religious experts, but for medical reasons, we cannot approve a procedure that removes tissue from the genitals in which the risk is so great for serious complications” said the Swedish association’s ethics officer, Thomas Flodin.

The recommendation, which is non-binding, also said that circumcision should be performed only by physicians in a medical facility.

In October, the children’s ombudsmen of all Nordic countries — Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway — released a joint declaration proposing a ban on circumcision.

Swedish Minister for Integration, Erik Ullenhag, said existing rules that allow for religious circumcision would not be changed. Current Swedish legislation states that both medical and non-medical circumcision must be carried out by a licensed professional. Jewish ritual circumcisers (mohels) receive licenses from the national health board, but are required to be attended by a doctor or nurse during the procedure.

‘’The recommendation of the two medical associations is an insulting and intrusive assault on religious freedom,” reacted World Jewish Congress (WJC) CEO Robert Singer.

He added in a statement : “Religious circumcision, a procedure that has been practiced safely for millennia, confers notable health benefits. It is a bulwark against urinary-tract infections, cervical cancer and HIV-AIDS, which is why it is being promoted heavily by medical authorities in Africa and other places. Given the compelling religious freedom and health reasons for religious circumcision, the Swedish and Danish medical associations need to recognize that their call for a ban represents an appeal to xenophobia and ignorance and not enlightened science.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics stated ...

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Director General of the European Jewish Association (EJA), an umbrella group of Jewish organisations active on European level, who has been leading the fight against attempts to ban circumcision and ritual slaughter of animals, said his organization was conducting a join campaign with European Muslim leaders in an attempt to overturn various legislation that ban kosher butchering and circumcision “two traditions that are sacred both to Jews and Muslims.”

NORWAY: Circumcision to be regulated

JTA
November 12, 2013

Norway to introduce new regulations on circumcision

(JTA) — Norway will promote new legislation to “regulate ritual circumcision,” the country’s health minister said.

Bent Hoie said the new legislation on non-medical circumcision of boys under 18 will be introduced before April 20, according to a report by the Norwegian daily Aftenposten.

“We will review submissions on the matter before we can decide what should be the government’s position. We aim to present a bill before Easter,” Hoie told Aftenposten last week. He did not say whether the regulations would introduce new restrictions.

His announcement follows renewed calls by Norway Children’s Ombudswoman Anne Lindboe to ban non-medical circumcision of minors without their consent, which she says violates their rights.

“This is not due to any lack of understanding of minorities or religious traditions, but because the procedure is irreversible, painful and risky,” Lindboe told Aftenposten.

The Center Party, which won 5.5 percent of the vote in Norway general elections earlier this year, is in favor of banning non-medical circumcision of underage boys. The country’s largest party, Labor, has not yet formulated an official stance but several of its lawmakers support a ban.

Ervin Kohn, president of the Jewish community in Oslo, told JTA that he considers the issue “an existential matter” for the Jewish community of about 700 members.

Each year, approximately 2,000 Muslims and seven Jewish newborns undergo non-medical circumcision in Norway, according to Aftenposten.

In France, meanwhile, President Francois Hollande strongly affirmed his support for the protection of Jewish rights to circumcision in an Oct. 30 letter to the Consistoire, which oversees religious services for the Jewish community.

“There is no question whether this practice in Judaism, and other religions, is performed in accordance with existing laws in France,” he wrote. [... but he is happy to regulate what Muslim women may wear...]

OSLO: Outrage over anti-cutting cartoon

Dagbladet (Norway, Bing translation)
May 29, 2013

Dagbladet comic strip aroused international attention

Artist Thomas Drefvelin says that the drawing is not directed towards a particular religion or particular peoples.

By Trude Ringheim

A comic strip printed in yesterday's Edition of Dagbladet, [drew attention from] several foreign media. Artist Thomas Drefvelin has drawn the [satirical strip].

	Abuse? No, this is tradition! An important aspect of our faith!	Faith? Oh, then that is all right!	Sorry for the interruption

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz cites the Simon Wiesenthal Center that they perceive the drawing as anti-Semitic.
[The Wiesenthal Center denounced “the blood libel cartoon published in Dagbladet.”
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center... demanded that the Norwegian government condemn the cartoon.
“We call upon Norway’s leaders to denounce this incitement to hate and especially urge the ombudsman for children’s rights to denounce this outrageous denigration of a core Jewish rite dating back to the biblical times of Abraham,” Cooper said.
“This cartoon has crossed all lines of decency and is dripping with hate and anti-Semitism,” said Dr. Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, in a statement. “We are now studying the possibility that this legally constitutes incitement and even a hate-crime and will therefore require legal action.”
The European Jewish Congress said it was “carefully considering” the option of legal action over the cartoon.

The Times of Israel, May 29, 2013]

...

Defending the drawing
Chief Editor of Dagbladet, John Arne Markussen, is aware that the drawing is of such a nature that it can be printed in Dagbladet.

-There is no doubt that the remedies here are powerful. But it is clearly an utterance that can pass in our columns, and in the public at large, "said Markussen and continues:

-We understand [the] drawing [and] suggest it is not about a specific faith or not. I also can't read from the drawing [whether] it's a boy or a girl we see here. But the way I see the drawing, there is an attempt by cartoonist to illustrate what he conceives of the practice of genital cutting, but it's not that he points to particular peoples or religions in [his] drawing, said Markussen.

[The woman is wearing a hat. Jewish women at religious services do not.
The man is spearing the baby's forehead with a carving fork (not a "devil's pitchfork") reminscent of the Shi'ite custom during the festival of Ashura.
The book is unidentifiable, not (as some critics have said) a Torah or a Bible.
The baby's genitals remain covered, and its sex is unknown.
It is the toes that are being cut off.
It is being held down in a device reminiscent of a Circumstraint (TM) used for American traditional (pseudo-medical) circumcisions.]
Frames no[t] special
Designer Tomas Drefvelin, who is the guest [cartoonist] of Today magazine stated abo[ut] criticism.

-Some reading things into the drawing that I did not have the character or expressed, he said.

-What is your intention?

- I was trying to make a parody of religion-but it is not a particular or a specific religion or a specific people I drew, it is neither a boy or a girl baby, just a child. The drawing has a serious topic.

General criticism of religion
-So what do you see?

-The whole point is [w]hat the first police officer says. Police officer says: "faith? Oh, Yes, but then it's okay. " Therein lies my point that draw. Religion gets away with the worst thing just using that quote. One says only that "this is tradition" and "this is religion" and so should it somehow be okay.

-What do you say to critics?

-I have no anti-Semitic attitudes. It can be seen by my overall production, that at the base of everything I do, [is] humanism and the defence of the individual human being. Under all the rough humour, there is a defense for man, individuals and especially for defenseless children.

-You take no criticism for [the cartoon]?

-I'd maybe parodied shapes in your drawing even more than I do, to emphasize that this is not specific to a particular religion.

-So this is not an attack on Jews?

-No. Jew hatred is reprehensible. This would never occur to me to draw a strip to create hatred against a people or against individuals. Let me repeat. My criticism of religions are generic, nothing else, "said [artist] Tomas Drefvelin.

Point to the cop
Also Chief Editor of Dagbladet, John Arne Markussen points to the policeman as the Central.

-The point in the drawing as we see it, the police officer and his statements, that if one of the actions refers to religion or tradition, so one can get away with a lot.

Markussen emphasizes:

-I perceive as the cartoonist said not intend going to the attack on any particular religion or special people. That's a key point here.

-Then the drawing is not anti-Semitic?

-No, it's not. Dagbladet is a liberal newspaper, our attitudes are so far from being anti-Semitic as it is possible. Anti-Semitism is absolutely reprehensible for Dagbladet, as also for the cartoonist, Markussen [said].

NORWAY: "We can't go first" - Minister

the Foreigner
July 3, 2012

Norway minister discounts anti-circumcision move

By Michael Sandelson
Norwegian Ministry officials sent a legal proposal to allow ritual neo-natal circumcisions at hospitals out for hearing in May 2011 aimed at preventing the practise going underground. The issue of permitting this is to be discussed in Parliament after the summer recess.

Child Ombudsman Reidar Hjermann has also argued for the imposing of a minimum age requirement of 15.

Whilst tri-partite coalition member the Centre Party (Sp) has officially vetoed the multi thousand-year tradition, the minister told VG, “We’d be the only country in the world to forbid ritual circumcision if we moved for this. I cannot, therefore, think that this will apply.”
[Where have we heard that before? How many countries "can't go first" before one can?]

A Cologne District Court Judge recently ruled

...

Meanwhile, Norwegian Health Ministry advisor Tord Dale explained that the government proposes that a Mohel performs the procedure in hospital supervised by medical staff, with strict hygiene, and pain relief requirements, before the child travels home following birth.

Muslim male circumcisions have no fixed age and are carried out according to familial, regional, and national traditions. Jews circumcise male children on the eight day to recall their covenant with God.

“The most important is that it is carried out in a safe way. A Mohel performs far more of these than most Norwegian doctors do,” said Tord Dale.
[But there is no evidence that ritual circumcision is any safer than other kinds.]

NORWAY: Ban ritual circumcision of boys: Centre Party

The Local (Norway)
June 13, 2012

Ban ritual circumcision of boys: Centre Party

The practice of ritually circumcising infant boys is outdated, dangerous, and should be banned, according to Centre Party justice policy spokeswoman Jenny Klinge.

“In my view, this is a custom that we cannot accept in a modern, civilized society. Our aim is to prioritize the rights of small children. Fortunately, it has become forbidden to circumcise girls, now it’s time for boys to get the same legal protection,” Klinge told newspaper Dagbladet.

Although the Centre Party itself a junior partner in Norway’s Red-Green coalition government, the politician also criticized the government’s decision to consult experts on the possibility of introducing circumcision into the public healthcare system, a move she fears would legitimize the practice.

She stressed that she was not opposed to circumcision in cases where it was deemed a medical necessity.

“But circumcision based on ritual and religion is actually about holding down a newborn baby boy and cutting off part of a healthy sexual organ, with all the consequences that this might have for an individual’s future health and sex life,” said Klinge.

With this in mind, performing a circumcision on religious grounds ought to be made a criminal offence, she added.

Jan Helge Solbakk, a professor of medical ethics at Oslo University, agreed with Klinge’s criticism of the practice.

“It represents an irreversible operation on a boy who is not in a position to protect himself, and as such is in breach of basic human rights,” he told Dagbladet.

Earlier story

NORWAY: Ban considered after circumcision death

btno (edited Google translate)
May 12, 2012

Boy died after circumcision in Oslo

A two-week-old boy died of complications two days after he was circumcised by a doctor in Oslo.
The circumcision was at a doctor's office on the East side, and both the police and county physician in Oslo are now investigating the matter, writes Aftenposten.

The boy was circumcised last Sunday and died two days later. County medical officer Peter Schou confirms that the child died of complications following circumcision.

- We have put two unnamed doctors under formal supervision, said Schou.

According to him there have been several cases supervised by medical offices in Oslo, which have been about circumcision.

Complaints rare
- These are very difficult cases to investigate because patients rarely complain about circumcision, but we have had serious concern from hospitals that put these children into therapy later, he told Aftenposten.

Each year an estimated 2000 boys are circumcised in Norway, many of them privately and without professional control.

Health and Care Services is now considering tighter laws to make circumcision safer, but both within government and within the coalition parties, there is disagreement about of circumcision of boys. Some want to ban it, while others would offer the procedure in the public health system. A bill has recently been circulated, and many would ban or limit it.

Prohibition or limit
Weightier bodies consulted believe the circumcision of male children should be banned. The Medical Association, Nurses, the Children's Ombudsman, the NHA, Resource people and the Medical Faculty of the University of Oslo want the practice [outlawed].

Child Ombudsman Reidar Hjermann want a debate about the minimum age, but believes that ritual circumcision should be banned for children under 15-16 years.

Justice Policy Center spokeswoman, Jenny Klinge, said ritual circumcision of young boys should be banned in line with the [law against] circumcision of girls.

Original Article:

btno
12.mai. 2012

Gutt døde etter omskjæring i Oslo

En to uker gammel gutt døde av komplikasjoner to dager etter at han var blitt omskåret av en lege i Oslo.

Omskjæringen skjedde på et legekontor på Oslos østkant, og både politiet og fylkeslegen i Oslo undersøker nå saken, skriver Aftenposten.

Gutten ble omskåret forrige søndag og døde to dager senere. Fylkeslege Petter Schou bekrefter at barnet døde av komplikasjoner etter omskjæring.

- Vi har opprettet en formell tilsynssak mot to navngitte leger, sier Schou.
Ifølge ham har det vært flere tilsynssaker ved legekontorer i Oslo som har dreid seg om omskjæring.

Klager sjelden
- Dette er veldig vanskelige saker å undersøke fordi pasienter sjelden klager på omskjæring, men vi får alvorlige bekymringsmeldinger fra sykehusene som får disse barna inn til behandling senere, sier han til Aftenposten.

Hvert år blir anslagsvis 2.000 gutter omskåret i Norge, mange av dem privat og uten faglig kontroll.

Helse- og omsorgsdepartementet vurderer nå innstramminger i lovverket for å gjøre omskjæring sikrere, men både innad i regjeringen og innad i de rødgrønne partiene er man uenig i synet på omskjæring av gutter. Noen vil ha forbud, mens andre vil tilby inngrepet i det offentlige helsevesenet. Et lovforslag har nylig vært på høring og mange ønsker forbud eller aldersgrense.

Forbud eller aldersgrense
Flere tunge høringsinstanser mener omskjæring av guttebarn bør forbys. Både Legeforeningen, Sykepleierforbundet, Barneombudet, Human-Etisk Forbund, Ressurssenteret for menn og Medisinsk fakultet ved Universitetet i Oslo ønsker slutt på praksisen.

Barneombud Reidar Hjermann ønsker en debatt om nedre aldersgrense, men mener at rituell omskjæring bør forbys på barn under 15-16 år.

Justispolitisk talskvinne i Senterpartiet, Jenny Klinge, mener rituell omskjæring av små gutter må forbys på lik linje med omskjæring av jenter.