SOUTH AFRICA: Men refuse, so babies to be cut

health-e (South Africa)
August 13, 2014

Government to promote infant male circumcision

by Ayanda Mkhwanazi
With government still far off its goal to medically circumcise 4.3 million by 2016, Department of Health officials say they plan to begin promoting medical male circumcision (MMC) among infants and young boys.

[So when men resist, do it to people who can't resist - how cynical is that?]

Since the 2010 launch of the HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign, almost 1.4 million men have been circumcised. This means that with only two years to go until the 2016 deadline, government has only reached about a third of its target.

“We need to improve our performance in the next two years,” said Dayanund Loykissoonlal, MMC programme manager at the National Health Department. “We did nearly half a million (circumcisions) in 2014 so we are moving but not fast enough.”

He added that the department planned to explore approaches to encourage parents to medically circumcise boys after birth and as young children.

[This is illegal:]
 

Children's Act, 2005 (Act No. 38 of 2005) …Chapter 2 : General Principles 12. Social, cultural and religious practices 1) Every child has the right not to be subjected to social, cultural and religious practices which are detrimental to his or her well-being. 2) ... [age of marriage] 3) Genital mutilation or the circumcision of female children is prohibited. 4)[-7)] Virginity testing ... 8) Circumcision of male children under the age of 16 is prohibited, except when- a) circumcision is performed for religious purposes in accordance with the practices of the religion concerned and in the manner prescribed; or b) circumcision is performed for medical reasons on the recommendation of a medical practitioner. 9) Circumcision of male children older than 16 may only be performed- a) if the child has given consent to the circumcision in the prescribed manner; b) after proper counselling of the child; and c) in the manner prescribed. 10) Taking into consideration the child’s age, maturity and stage of development, every male child has the right to refuse circumcision.

The department also continues to work with the traditional sector to improve safety and links with the HCT campaign, Loykissoonlal added.

Soweto general practitioner Dr Don Pupuma said he always encourages patients to circumcise their little ones as early as possible because the after effects are less severe.

“It is distinctly painless when you are a youngster (because) you have less erections,” said Pupuma speaking to journalists and medical professionals in Johannesburg yesterday.

[Nonsense]

...

Large clinical trials in South Africa, Kenya and Uganda found that medical male circumcision could reduce a man’s risk of contracting HIV by up to 60 percent.

[But no studies anywhere have shown any effect of infant genital cutting on HIV acquisition.]

With about six million people living with HIV in South Africa, CEO of the specialist HIV care and training company Careworks Harry Lake said the country must prioritise resources for medical male circumcision.

“We have got to put as many resources as possible into MMC so that we can reverse these numbers,” Lake said.

[There is no evidence anywhere yet that mass-circumcision has had any effect on HIV numbers.]

DENMARK: Medical students oppose circumcising

One more small step for males....

Foreningen af Danske Lægestuderende
24. Juni 2014

Udmelding om rituel omskæring af drengebørn

Ved rituel drengeomskæring fjernes sundt og funktionelt væv fra et umyndigt, raskt barn, og spørgsmålet om rituel drengeomskæring er derfor i sit udgangspunkt ikke et sundhedsspørgsmål. Spørgsmålet om, hvorvidt rituel drengeomskæring skal være lovligt eller ej, bliver i stedet et etisk spørgsmål og et spørgsmål om rettigheder. Derfor må læger og lægestuderende på lige fod med alle andre mennesker i samfundet tage stilling til, om det enkelte menneskes frihed til at være herre over egen krop skal vægtes højere end religiøse og kulturelle traditioner eller ej.

FADL mener, at det enkelte individ har ret til selv at tage beslutning om rituel omskæring, og at retten til en intakt krop bør være uafhængig af individets køn. Da piger allerede er sikret lovmæssig beskyttelse mod rituel omskæring i Danmark, bør drenge også sikres samme rettigheder.

FADL ønsker med denne resolution at udtrykke respekt for børns - både pigers og drenges - konventionssikrede ret til beskyttelse af deres kropslige integritet. Og vil appellere til, at læger og andre sundhedsprofessionelle tager aktivt stilling til, om man vil respektere børns og dermed også drenges konventionssikrede ret til en intakt krop ved at benytte sig af deres ret til at sige nej til at udføre rituel omskæring af drengebørn.

FADL vil gerne understrege, at vores holdning til rituel drengeomskæring hverken bunder i antisemitisme eller islamofobi. Mænd, der har nået myndighedsalderen, kan selv vælge at blive omskåret af religiøse eller kulturelle grunde, såfremt de måtte ønske dette.

FADLs holdning handler ikke om omskæring eller ej. Vores holdning er, at hvert enkelt individ selv skal have valget.

- Kasper Gasbjerg, Formand for Foreningen af Danske Lægestuderende


Association of Danish Medical Students
(Bing translation, edited) June 24, 2014

Announcement about the ritual circumcision of baby boys

Ritual boys' circumcision removes healthy and functional tissue from a umyndigt, healthy child, and the question of ritual boys circumcision is therefore in its starting point not a health issue. The question of whether ritual boys circumcision should be legal or not, will be instead an ethical issue and a question of rights. Therefore, doctors and medical students on an equal footing with all other people in the community take a stand on whether the individual freedom to be master of own body are weighted higher than religious and cultural traditions or not.

FADL believes that individuals have the right to take the decision about the ritual circumcision, and that the right to an intact body should be independent of the individual's gender. As girls already are guaranteed legal protection against ritual circumcision in Denmark, boys should be ensured the same rights.

FADL would with this resolution to express respect for children 's - both girls and boys - Convention secured the right to the protection of their physical integrity. And will appeal to physicians and other healthcare professionals actively take a stand on whether we wish to respect children's and thus also secured the right to an intact boys Convention body by taking advantage of their right to say ' no ' to perform the ritual circumcision of baby boys.

FADL would like to stress that our approach to ritual boys circumcision is rooted in neither anti-Semitism nor Islamophobia. Men who have reached the age of majority, may even choose to be circumcised for religious or cultural reasons, if they wish to do this.

FADL's position is not about circumcision or not. Our position is that each individual should have the choice.

- Kasper Gasbjerg, President of the Danish Association of medical students

UPDATE: Circumstitions News Back from Hiatus

Activity at Circumstitions News was suspended for a few weeks. Here is a list of several important events that took place during that time:

• The Genital Autonomy Symposium at Keele was told by a London QC that infant circumcision is already contrary to the law. In a wide-ranging address, London Queen's Counsel James Chewidden demonstrated how non-therapeutic infant circumcision is in breach of natonal and international law.
  He cited cases, such as Re A (minors: conjoined twins), in which Lord Walker said:
  "Every human being's right to life carries with, as an intrinsic part of it, rights of bodily integrity and autonomy - the right to have one's own body whole and intact and (upon reaching an age of understanding) to take decisions about one's body."...and Re Marion [sterilisation of an intellectually handicapped girl]:"Conclusion relies on a fundamental right to personal inviolability existing in the common law, a right which underscores the principles of assault, both criminal and civil."
  McHugh J, a member of the majority in that case, had more to say:
  "The common law accepts that a person has rights of self-control and self-determination in respect of his or her body which other persons must respect. Thus, the legal requirement of consent to body interference protects the autonomy and dignity of the individual and limits the power of others to interfere with that person's body."
  Mr Chegwidden was speaking at the 2013 International Symposium of Genital Autonomy, at Keele University, Staffordshire.
  Only one judicial statement has ever claimed infant circumcision is legal, and that was in passing (in a 1994 case [R v. Brown 1AC 212] of adult men voluntarily wounding each other for sexual purposes), with no reference or precedent, though it has been cited in defence of circumcision many times since.
  
• Children's Ombudsmen of five Scandinavian countries, and several Danish political parties came out together against infant circumcision.
• The Council of Europe condemned infant circumcision as a human rights violation, with a predictible reaction. And on a lighter note,
• Any British royal circumcision tradition is thoroughly refuted.

PERTH: "Keep talking about female cutting"

WA News
July 9, 2013

Genital mutilation talk 'deterrent'

by Aleisha Orr

The first female genital mutilation case believed to have made it to court in Western Australia may have fallen through but a researcher with expertise in the field says the issue needs to remain in community discussions to act as a deterrent to others.

Curtin University researcher Anne Aly said the fact that charges were initially laid in relation to the matter sent "a very powerful and strong message" to those who may be considering organising the procedure.

A northern suburbs mother and father were alleged to have organised the illegal circumcision of their baby girl in Bali and were arrested at Perth Airport in August 2012.

Their identities were suppressed throughout the matter.

Prosecutors dropped the charges on the grounds that there was not a reasonable prospect of conviction.

The lawyer of the couple who had the charges against them dropped, Hylton Quail told media outside the court on the couple's last appearance "there was never any offence, there was never any medical evidence to support the charge in the first place."

Dr Aly said the dropping of the case did worry her, that the only way for a case to be proven would be once the procedure had already gone ahead.

"How do you prove intention and get enough evidence," she said.

"It unintentionally says you have to go through with the process to prove intention.

"It certainly is a test case for the law."

Dr Aly said rather than sending the message; "don't do it, it is illegal" the focus should be more on the health and welfare of children.

"You have to put children's welfare first, that's a much better deterrent," she said.

Dr Aly said education needed to be a continuous process as the practice was most prevalent within those who had moved here from other countries where it was done as a cultural practice.

"As more migrants and asylum seekers come in they need to be aware of the legal implications and health and psychological affects."

In Victoria the practice has "significantly increased" as a result of a rise in migration and refugee settlement according to the state's health minister who is now calling for federal funding to match state funding to cover support and prevention services.

Female circumcision is performed in some cultures and religions, but is illegal in Australia.

It is illegal to perform, arrange or take a child out of the state for such a procedure.

Its occurrence is believed to be underreported in WA.

Earlier story

BERLIN: Jews denounce conditions of circumcision acceptance

Vosizneias
September 6, 2012

Berlin - German Jews Reject Circumcision Terms

Berlin, Germany - Berlin’s Jewish community denounced on Thursday the city’s rejection of male circumcisions conducted by traditional specialists, saying the restriction was “flagrant interference” in religion.

The city-state of Berlin had announced a day earlier that it would not prosecute doctors conducting the ritual on boys in accordance with ancient Jewish and Muslim practice. But it said a mohel, a professional Jewish circumciser, could not claim the privilege.

The assembly of the city Jewish community passed a unanimous resolution saying, “this is flagrant interference in a Jewish tradition going back more than 3,000 years.”

A mohel is trained in the circumcision of baby boys and must live strictly according to kosher rules. Jewish groups said it would be rare to find a man who is both a mohel and a doctor at the same time.
The city-state said immunity from prosecution would apply on its territory if doctors used painkillers and obtained written parental consent and proof that the family belonged to a Jewish or Muslim community. Two other states said they had set similar conditions.

...

Jews are also concerned that Germany will demand use of a local anaesthetic during circumcision. One of Israel’s two chief rabbis has visited Berlin to say that this is not allowed in traditional circumcision.

Germany’s President Joachim Gauck released Thursday a letter to his Israeli counterpart, Shimon Peres, assuring him “the way of life and beliefs of Jews in Germany” needed to be protected. Peres had earlier asked Gauck to intervene and speak up for Jews.

Jewish groups plan a demonstration on Sunday in Berlin with Christian supporters to protest against the restrictions on circumcision. They have appealed to Muslims to also take part.

Muslims in Germany mostly ask doctors to perform circumcisions and have no equivalent of the mohel.

Earlier story

BERLIN: Ritual circumcision conditionally permissible

Haaretz
September 5, 2012

Circumcision declared legal [allowable] in first of 16 German states

Ruling in Berlin city-state follows recent controversy that erupted when a Cologne court indicted a doctor with inflicting unlawful bodily harm by circumcising a 4-year-old boy.

Infant male circumcision was declared legal Wednesday in one of Germany's 16 states, following weeks of controversy about whether the Jewish and Muslim ritual is a crime or not. [What follows falls short of declaring it legal. It's more like turning a blind eye to it.]

The city-state of Berlin became the first to rule on the issue, saying its prosecutors had beeninstructed not to charge doctors if the boy's parents had consented in writing and proved they were religiously motivated.

...

While Berlin has moved more swiftly than the federal government or the other states to restore the procedure's legality, it has also imposed restrictions on it, including the duty to inform parents about any medical risks.

"If these criteria are fulfilled, circumcision will remain immune from prosecution," the state justice minister, Thomas Heilmann, said. "If medical standards are observed, circumcision at home or in a synagogue is also acceptable."

He said those standards included using all possible means of reducing pain and limiting bleeding. However, only doctors would be legally allowed to perform the procedure.

Heilmann said the state government did not have the power to authorize a mohel, or Jewish person trained in circumcision, to carry out the ritual. He said only the upcoming federal legislation could change that aspect of the law.

Earlier story

DENMARK: Does circumcision violate the health code?

August 26, 2012

Denmark to probe whether circumcision violates health code

(JTA) -- Denmark has commissioned an investigation into whether non-medical circumcision procedures violate its health code.

“We will examine the public health recommendations followed in this area,” Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt told the Copenhagen-based Politiken daily on Saturday.

Politiken reported that the Danish government has commissioned a study on this question. Last month the paper published an expose that said the National Board of Health did not monitor the conditions under which circumcision takes place.

Non-medical circumcision of minors has been the subject of a heated debate in Denmark over the past few months. Several politicians reportedly have called for a ban on the practice, prompting angry reactions from Jews and Muslims.

Venstre, Denmark’s largest party, will decide whether to seek a ban on such circumcisions based on the results of the study, a party spokesperson told JTA.

The chief rabbi of Denmark, Bent Lexner, told Politiken that he did not think the launching of the investigation reflected distrust on the government’s part. He said the government was welcome to carry out its investigation.
...

TASMANIA: Circumcision legallity decision due

The Mercury (Tasmania)
May 15, 2012

Circumcision decision due

By Michelle Paine
A TASMANIAN report into whether circumcision may be illegal is expected this month.

It comes as the Federal Government considers whether the procedure should continue to qualify for Medicare payments.

The Tasmanian Law Reform Institute began its review in 2009.

Public hospitals in Tasmania, as in most states, only circumcise if medically necessary.

A 2008 University of Tasmania researcher said the law failed to clarify whether the person doing the procedure, usually a doctor but sometimes a religious figure, was committing assault or abuse, or that consent from the boy's parents was protection against criminal and civil action.

In 2007 then Children's Commission Paul Mason said that other than for medical reasons, it was a breach of the most basic human right to inflict permanent, painful and disfiguring surgery on a boy's body when he was too small to resist.

"Everyone is entitled to bodily integrity, to protection of their own body from injury by another without their consent," Mr Mason said.

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians said there was no medical evidence for routine circumcision.

It said the rate of complications, which could be severe, was 1 to 4 per cent, and that a well trained practitioner should do the procedure.

"Informed parental choice should be respected .. [consent] should include the possibility that the ethical principle of autonomy may be better fulfilled by deferring the circumcision to adolescence with the young man consenting on his own behalf," its statement said.

Department of Health and Human Services strategic planning director Martin Hensher said it was an elective surgical procedure when deemed medically necessary.

Last year there were 84 circumcisions, 57 on children, in Tasmanian public hospitals.

"Any debate on a change in policy relating to male circumcision, including Medicare coverage, needs to take place on a national basis in close consultation with physicians and the relevant peak bodies like the [RACP]."

Earlier story

SOUTH DAKOTA: Prisoner sues for wrongful infant circumcision

necn.com
April 16, 2012

SD man's lawsuit says circumcision 'robbed' him

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A South Dakota prison inmate is suing the hospital where he was circumcised as a newborn, saying he only recently became aware that he'd undergone the procedure and that it robbed him of his sexual prowess.

Dean Cochrun, 28, is asking for $1,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. He also asks in the lawsuit that his foreskin be restored "in the hopes I could feel whole again," though he acknowledged that he didn't expect such a restoration to be anything more than aesthetic.

Cochrun, who is imprisoned in Sioux Falls on a kidnapping conviction, filed the federal lawsuit Friday against Sanford Hospital. Cochrun claims that an "unknown doctor" at the then-named Sioux Valley Hospital misled his mother to believe that the procedure was medically necessary. Cochrun argues that the procedure was unnecessary, unethical and without medical benefit.

"I was recently made aware of the fact that I had been (circumcised) and that ... I was robbed of sensitivity during sexual intercourse as well as the sense of security and well-being I am entitled to in my person," he argued in the lawsuit, adding that neither he nor his partners would "have that sensitivity during sexual intercourse and have a normal sex life."

Cochrun isn't represented by a lawyer in the lawsuit, which includes a letter from Sanford officials responding to a letter requesting that his foreskin be replaced. Patient relations representative DyAnn Smith replied that Sanford would not pay for the procedure.

"There will be no further correspondence about this matter," she wrote.