SYDNEY: Botched circumcisions part of child abuse at boy's home

news.com.au (Australia)
December 12, 2015

Boys had penises cut off, Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse hears

by Megan Palin
WARNING: Disturbing content
A MAN who alleged his penis was cut off by a male staff member at a Sydney boys’ home was one of many children who were mutilated and severely abused at the facility, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard.

Gordon Myers, 50, told news.com.au he was 13 when he was sent to the institution for the first time in 1978.

In his submission to the commission, Mr Myers said he was raped and bashed by various staff at the home on a regular basis over the five years he lived there.

He said a male staff member who “didn’t like little boys with foreskins” used to perform illegal and botched circumcisions on the children at Daruk.

“He cut my penis off,” Mr Myers told news.com.au.

“I had just turned 13. He took me into the clinic and said ‘we have permission to circumcise you’. I said ‘no you don’t’.

“He knocked me out with a needle and I woke up in the middle of it and there was (a second staff member there as well), I screamed in pain.

“Because I was so tiny, he probably thought, stupidly, ‘don’t give him as much anaesthetic to put him under’.”

Mr Myers said there was “blood everywhere” and that he was sent to Windsor Hospital where a surgeon “sewed (his) penis back on”.

He claims the hospital “covered up” the incident.

A spokeswoman for Hawkesbury District Health Service — which replaced Windsor Hospital — told news.com.au there were no records of the incident because they had likely been destroyed.

“Having checked with our hospital’s Medical Records Department, the records for the old hospital would have been destroyed if the patient had not presented again within a certain period of time,” the spokeswoman said.

“The Medical Records manager confirmed that she has previously discussed the subject with the patient identified, and advised that unfortunately no records can be located.”

Mr Myers said his penis “never grew” as a result of the trauma.

“All the nerve endings aren’t there,” he said. “It was a complete reattachment of the top of it.”

He said the deformity had a profound effect on his life.

“I can’t have children and I can’t have sex,” he said.

Mr Myers provided news.com.au with copies of medical documents which reveal Dr Philip Sutherland examined him in March this year for his submission to the Royal Commission.

“I can confirm that the size of Gordon’s penis and scrotum are childlike,” the report read.

Mr Sutherland referred Mr Myers to urologist Stephen Ruthven for further assessment.

Dr Ruthven concluded in a report sighted by news.com.au that Mr Myers had “testicular microlithiasis”, a condition where small clusters of calcium form in the testicles.

Dr Ruthven could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Mr Myers said he was not the only child whose penis was severed by the staff member at Daruk Training School.

“Every now and then he’d grab a kid to rape or circumcise and I was one of them,” he said.
Mr Myers said he was returned to the boys’ home following surgery.

“(The staff member) wanted to have another go and rape me a second time,” he said. “He raped me heaps of time before that but I wasn’t going to let that happen again.

“I just lost the plot and flogged him. I turned very violent.”

Mr Myers said dozens of boys were brutally, sexually and physically abused by staff at the home and that the perpetrators hadn’t been brought to justice.

He said an extensive cover-up linked to a VIP paedophile ring had protected the offenders and prevented them from being investigated.

Senator Bill Heffernan recently campaigned for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to expand its investigation to include the judicial system.

In October this year he told Senate estimates that he had given the commission “very disturbing” police documents that named at least 28 alleged paedophiles, some of whom were prominent Australians.

But he said the commission had told him it could not investigate the cases because they were outside its terms of reference.

Carl Orme, 50, told news.com.au he was also a resident of Daruk Training school in 1978.

Mr Orme said he was routinely physically and sexually abused by several staff members at the home and that one at the school often taunted the boys and severed some of their penises.

“There was a male (staff member) there, and I will never forget his name,” Mr Orme said. “He was a very sick man.

“He’d start fondling with you and things and he would always threaten to circumcise everyone. “He used to scare you and everything, he’d get scissors out and grab hold of the old fella’ saying, ‘I’m going to cut it off if you don’t sit still, I’m going to cut your willy off’.

“His excuse was ‘it’s clean to be circumcised’.”

Mr Orme said the new arrivals were often the staff member’s main targets.

“Sometimes he would tell one of the boys that he liked, especially the new arrivals, and then take them back to the hospital,” he said.

“Then a couple of days later, that same little boy would come back so traumatised, everyone felt for him, as most boys had already been in the same position.

“I was taken to the hospital and told that they were going to circumcise me. I went off my brain and started to fight the officers in the room.

“I threw everything that I could at them, as I’d heard that two months before, one of the little boys had his penis cut off and I was so scared, and wasn’t going to allow anything like that happen to me.

“All my life I have wondered about that little boy, I still to this day try and think of his name. I also wonder whether he made it through life.”

The Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse is the largest Royal Commission in Australia’s history. It is focusing on the sexual abuse of children in institutions that were supposed to care for them.

After being granted an extension last year, the commission will now conclude at the end of 2017.

BENDIGO, AUSTRALIA: Councillor tweets shocking female -whoops! male - genital cutting pic

How shocking female genital cutting is! - whoops!

News.com.au (Australia)
February 26, 2015

Bendigo councillor Elise Chapman tweets graphic female genital mutilation photos

A VICTORIAN councillor has tweeted graphic female genital mutilation photos to a supporter of a controversial mosque development.

WARNING: Disturbing image below.
 
Bendigo councillor Elise Chapman has been outspoken against Islam in her campaign to stop a $3 million mosque development approved by Bendigo City Council in June 2014.

A mosque supporter had sent a message to Chapman on Twitter saying she hoped the mosque would get built soon.

“It’s great to see someone who cares about all Bendigo residents and their religions,” the supporter tweeted.

Ms Chapman responded with the image showing five [boy] babies with bloody wounds.

“Oh, we could have this here too? Would you like your fanny sliced off,” she captioned the photo.

“Yes. I’m opposed to female genital mutilation, child brides, inequality, women beating, all part of Quran, read it.”

The graphic tweet that has generated so much reaction Source: Twitter  [Elise Chapman has since had her Twitter account suspended.]

 

Ms Chapman was one of two councillors who voted against approving the mosque, which would include two prayer rooms, a shop and community sports centre.

The project has been the subject of vocal protests and a social media campaign from opponents, including 350 who submitted formal objections to the council.

About 40 letters of support were also received.
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearings into the development are ongoing.

[Apart from Ms Chapman's Islamophobia, only one problem with this story: the picture shows boy babies who have just been genitally cut ("circumcised"). Here is the original from here (NSFW).

Click to enlarge.

Will learning this change Ms Chapman's view of male genital cutting? Or female? Since the firestorm this generated may have ended her career, does it matter?]

KENYA: Wife sends whole village to publicly cut husband

Diaspora Messenger (Kenya)
January 17, 2015

Wife sends a whole village to circumcise her husband in broad daylight

A man was forcefully circumcised in Chwele Market Bungoma county after his wife reported him to the elders.

A 39-year-old man woke up to the shock of his life when he found thousands of people gathered outside his house waiting to circumcise him.

The father of 11 is said to have had an argument with his wife when she decided to go and expose him to the elders on his state of manhood.

He was drugged out of his house and circumcised in front of a large multitude in Chwele market.

He was later awarded gifts and is expected to stay in isolation for four months before elders teach him on how to be a man, according to the Bukusu culture.

Social media was awash with critics some condemning the act while other praised the act under #GoCutMyHusband

EASTERN CAPE: Nine boys lose penises in botched circumcisions

Times Live (Soth Africa)
February 14, 2014

At least 9 penis amputations after traditional circumcision

by Katharine Child
Initiates who needed medical attention during the traditional circumcision season were often stigmatised by their communities.

Some men in the Eastern Cape who developed infections refused to go to hospitals and some had parents who prevented them from accessing medical treatment.

This is according to the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga departments of health that recently reported back to parliament on the 2013 circumcision deaths.

Despite interventions by health officials, this happened:

• 43 people died in the Eastern Cape from circumcisions last year;
• Nine had their penis amputated;
• There were 31 botched circumcision deaths in Mpumalanga;

In the Eastern Cape, the biggest loss of life was caused by infected penises, leading to septicaemia.
Dr Dingeman Rijken, who had worked in Pondoland , Eastern Cape, said traditional leaders were not interested in working with doctors . After meetings with them, chiefs spread messages that medical circumcision was bad.

A traditional nurse was successful in setting up three centralised circumcision schools in Western Pondoland in December. Negotiations to improve the situation in Eastern Pondoland fell flat.

EASTERN CAPE: Doctor who showed botched circumcisions defended, attacked

The New Age (South Africa)
January 29, 2014

'Ban traditional circumcision'

by Sithandiwe Velaphi
A world renowned medico, Dr Robert WM Frater, has come out in support of a website [NSFW] set up by a former Eastern Cape-based state doctor that has exposed irregularities on circumcision in the province.

Frater, who operates in South Africa and England, said he first observed irregularities in the custom in the late 1940s when he visited the Eastern Cape at the time that he was still a medical student. [And he's done nothing about it for more than sixty years?]

Dr Dingeman Rijken, a Dutch doctor who worked at the department of health’s Holy Cross Hospital in Flagstaff in the Eastern Cape, set up a website to expose malpractices in traditional circumcision.
Rijken did this after 43 boys died last month due to botched circumcisions.

A total of 39 boys died in June last year, bringing the number of boys who died in 2013 to 82.

Frater said: “There are complications severe enough to cause death and when Dr Dingeman Rijken documented these on the web.”

The chairperson of the Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders, Chief Ngangomhlaba Matanzima, said Rijken had undermined the people of the province and their customs.

“It is clear that he would like Dr Rijken to cease his efforts to help.”

Frater is of the view that traditional circumcision should be aborted and replaced by medical circumcision. [Why replaced at all?]

“The time has come to start the process of removing traditional circumcision as part of the initiation rite,” he said.

The Film and Publication Board (FPB), which apparently called Rijken to come and explain reasons for setting up the website following a complaint from the Community Development Foundation of South Africa, said although the website was harmful to children under the age of 13, it was also educative.

“The website contains material which may be very disturbing and harmful to children [under the age of 13].

However it must be borne in mind that even though the website contains graphic images, it is a bona fide scientific publication with great educative value.

The website highlights the malice that bedevils this rich cultural practice,” the board said.
Matanzima said there was “nothing educative” about the website.

He blamed the FPB for not doing what it was supposed to do – which was to shut it down.
“Is exposing manhood an education? These are kids belonging to the community. Even if there was consent from them, this is damaging.”

“We as custodians of this custom have not authorised this doctor to do what he has done.”

“We as black people respect other people’s cultures even if there are wrongdoings.”

Earlier story

NAIROBI: More than six men forcibly circumcised

The Standard (Kenya)
January 27, 2014

Eldoret artisan drugged, forcefully circumcised by people he knows

by Kevin Tunoi
UASIN GISHU: Police in Eldoret have launched a manhunt for six suspects and a medical practitioner who forcefully circumcised a man on Sunday at a private clinic in Peris area.

The Jua Kali artisan alleges that he was kidnapped and drugged by men known to him before he was forcefully cut.

The 21 year old victim further stated that more than six other men have undergone the involuntary procedure but have not reported to the police because they feel ashamed.

The victim noted that the exercise has been ongoing for quite a long time unabated in Kimumu area where a squad has been forcefully targeting uncircumcised males.

The man narrated that he had just finished his welding job and was walking with a friend when he was forcefully bundled into a pick-up truck belonging to one of the perpetrators.

“I had just seen off my friend and was heading home when I was ambushed by the men who took me to the clinic for the cut,” he explained.

The victim said he attempted to fight off the attackers even biting some of the men but it was in vain as they overpowered him.

He stated that on reaching the medical facility he was held down and the medical practitioner administered an unknown injection.

“The men ordered me to undress and when I declined they held me down and the doctor injected me then I lost consciousness and when I came to I had been circumcised,” he said.

The victim expressed fears of having been infected because he does not know if the procedure was conducted using sterile equipment.

Uasin Gishu Jua Kali artisans’ chairman who took the victim to hospital before reporting the matter to the police stated that the perpetrators had infringed the rights of the victim.

...

The artisans’ chairman noted that the health of the victim could be at risk because he may have contracted some diseases.

Eldoret East OCPD Nelson Taliti confirmed ... that they are hunting for the suspects.

...

He added that they are continuing with investigation and further charges could be preferred against the accused persons.

LONDON: Court ducks for cover in circumcision/custody case

UK Human Rights Blog
July 20, 2013

UK court ducks position on circumcision

by Rosiland English


605islamSS (Malaysia) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2013] EWCA Civ 888 - read judgment
...
Background facts
The appellant and her husband were Roman Catholics and their six year old son (C) had also been brought up as a Catholic. While the appellant and her son were visiting her sister in the United Kingdom, the husband converted to Islam. The mother claimed asylum on the grounds that if she were returned to Malaysia, she would be arrested and risk ill-treatment from her husband, who would also insist that C be raised as a Muslim and be circumcised.

She submitted that to deny her the opportunity of teaching C about her own religious faith was a “flagrant” breach of her right to respect for her private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and of her right under Article 9 to practise her religion (flagrancy being a base-line requirement for resisting immigration controls). Whilst she acknowledged that circumcision need not violate a child’s rights in the context of loving family relationships and where supported by both parents, the appellant was strongly opposed to the procedure and maintained that it would not be in C’s best interests to return him to Malaysia where his father’s wishes would prevail over her own. She also contended that the tribunal below had failed to consider C’s best interests except in its assessment of proportionality.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.

Reasoning behind the judgment
... As for the circumcision question, it was unnecessary to decide whether the procedure could infringe a child’s rights under Article 3 or Article 8 as the first instance tribunal had found that C would have the positive emotional support of his father and would be conforming to the broad expectations of his culture, both significant factors. Indeed, Moore-Blick LJ found it “difficult to see how C’s circumcision would involve any infringement of the appellant’s Convention rights”

...

Comment
Male circumcision is a widespread religious and cultural practice which has ancient origins…it is regarded as an acceptable practice among communities of all kinds, provided it is carried out under appropriate conditions.

Slavery, capital punishment, racial or gender discrimination and many other practices are also widespread and sanctified by ancient tradition: the obvious riposte is that neither popularity nor antiquity shield such institutions from scrutiny by the Human Rights Convention or other international instruments. It is interesting that no mention was made in this case of the widely-covered German regional court ruling on circumcision, where the court paid particular regard to the fact that circumcision led to the child’s body being “permanently and irreparably changed” and that it could affect his own religious interests later should he decide, for example, not to be a Muslim (see Adam Wagner’s post with its link to the English translation of the ruling). In that case the Cologne Regional Court decided that

The circumcision of a boy unable to give medical consent, correctly performed by a doctor for religious reasons with the consent of the parents, is not excluded from the definition of the offence [in German law of assault]…the occasioning of the circumcision by the parents has no effect of justification, since the parents’ right to religious upbringing of their children, when weighed against the right of the child to physical integrity and to self-determination, has no priority, and consequently their consent to the circumcision conflicts with the child’s best interests.
...

The appellant mother in this instant case was, in effect, asking the court to take a position on a doctrinal matter: the centrality of the circumcision procedure to Islamic observance. And it balked at the challenge, because doing so would get it embroiled in the controversy over rival religious practices. Was it right to do so? Yes, because religious experience should be inviolately private and therefore out of place in a public forum. No, because in a case where religion touches on a child’s interests, and the welfare of children is meant to be a paramount consideration, the courts are under a duty to square up to the issue, even if it is normally kept under wraps. If circumcision is one of the sharp demands placed on the child by religious faith, it should be scrutinised with the same rigour as any other practice which affects the interests of the child.

NAMIBIA: First Lady condemns traditional circumcision

AllAfrica.com
June 24, 2013

Namibia: Harmful Male Circumcision Condemned

by Kuzeeko Tjitemisa

Keetmanshoop — Namibian First Lady Penehupifo Pohamba has condemned all practices within the traditional, religious and social environment that are detrimental to the well-being and general development of the African child.

In her statement read by Councillor Jan Schotlz during the commemoration of the Day of the Africa Child held at the J Stephanus Stadium last Friday, Pohamba specifically singled out traditional circumcision as being harmful to children. She said that such social and cultural practices female genital mutilation, infanticide, child labour and forced marriages. "It is about time we examined our positions when it comes to these harmful social practices affecting our children," she said and added that a cursory look at the situation painted a picture that suggested that "we all have thrown [up] our hands in despair, giving an aura of morality to practitioners and believers of these practices."

... She further said there is a growing problem of children subjected to all forms of harmful practices, such as child labour and exploitation; traditional male circumcision of young boys, but also social practices such as neglect, baby dumping, sexual abuse, as well as the phenomena of sugar daddies and sugar mommies. ... Today we are not calling for culture to be done away with, but for all of us to relook some of these practices and to make a decision: is it beneficial or is it harmful. If we find that it is harmful, then I'm calling on all of us today to make a serious effort to do away with these harmful cultural practices," she said

"You are our hope for a better tomorrow. I want to call on all of you, to grab all opportunities at your disposal to equip yourself with knowledge, to study hard, and know where you can report incidents of harmful social and cultural practices and all other forms of violence against children," she emphasised. ... The Day of the African Child is marked on June 16 each year to honour the memory of schoolchildren killed and the courage of all those who marched in 1976 during a demonstration in Soweto, South Africa.

On that day, an estimated 10 000 schoolchildren gathered at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto to protest against an apartheid-inspired education system in that country and to demand instruction in their own languages instead of Afrikaans. The unarmed learners were, however, brutally attacked by the police and in the process an estimated 176 children lost their lives while thousands of them got wounded what has come to be known throughout the world as the "Soweto Uprising."

...

UGANDA: Men flee "life-threatening" forced circumcision

Uganda Picks
June 24, 2013

Mbale Residents Flee Forceful Circumcision

by Emmanuel Okwii

If you are an adult male who has been planning to visit Mbale anytime this week, then you might as well postpone your visit unless you want to be circumcised in the streets. The youth in Mbale are on the run following the forceful circumcision campaign that started last week.

The operation is being spearheaded by the Mbale male Bagisu youth against their colleagues that have not been circumcised. Business in the town has been affected as the uncircumcised have begun fleeing lest they be injured and ruthlessly circumcised.

This indiscriminate circumcision campaign, though intended for the Bagisu youth, has equally threatened non Bagisu in the town with many shops owned by the non Bagisu locked.

Reports obtained from Mbale Hospital have revealed that more than 60 adult men have so far rushed to Mbale hospital such that they too can be circumcised. Those that Uganda Picks spoke to claim that the ruthlessness with which their fellow youth circumcise the uncircumcised is life threatening.

However, the Bamasaba elders claim that this early campaign by the youths does not in any way reflect the position of the Bamasaba cultural institution. They said that real circumcision carried alongside rituals will commence in August. They have also condemned in the strongest terms possible the indiscriminate circumcision currently being done in the Mbale streets.

SOUTH AFRICA: Five more circumcision deaths, one castration

IoL News
June 21, 2013

Five circumcision deaths in E Cape

Port Elizabeth - Five boys died and one has been castrated in the Eastern Cape after illegal circumcisions, the provincial health department said on Friday.

“The Eastern Cape department of health is extremely concerned about the increasing number of young boys dying in the bush,” said spokesman Sizwe Kupelo.

“Over the past four days five boys have died in the bush. An autopsy conducted on three of them indicated they suffered from gangrene which resulted in renal failure.”

A 15-year-old boy also had to be castrated.

Kupelo said the circumcisions had occurred at illegal schools in the Libode, Port St Johns, and Lusikisiki areas.

“In one instance in Libode, a man wearing a balaclava is alleged to have circumcised at least 37 boys,” he said.

Those circumcised included boys as young as nine-years-old.

“The department describes the situation as not circumcision but acts of barbarism being perpetrated by greedy people who are interested in making money, and who have total disregard for human life.”

...

Earlier story

SOUTH AFRICA: Taxi drivers fear forced dircumcision

The New Age (South Africa)
June 18, 2013

Limpopo Taxis to cultural initiation schools in Limpopo

by Montsho Matlala

Panick struck the Jane Furse taxi rank in the Sekhukhune district in Limpopo on Tuesday following allegations that some taxi operators had been abducted and forcefully taken to local initiation schools.

Some taxi drivers went into hiding as cultural circumcision was not part of their families' culture.

One man said he was considering taking legal action after his brother was abducted and taken to an initiation school in the area at the weekend.

Callies Mokgoatjana, spokesperson for the Jane Furse Polokwane Taxi Association yesterday denied any form of kidnappings by members of his association.

SOUTH AFRICA: 23 die from circumcision

Herald Sun
May 17, 2013

Ritual circumcision kills 23 in S Africa

SOUTH African police said they had launched a series of murder inquiries after 23 males died while undergoing circumcision during traditional rites of passage into manhood.

The 23 - aged between 13 and 21 - died in various places across the country's northeastern Mpumalanga province over the course of a week.

"We have opened 22 cases of murder and one of inquest," regional police spokesman Leonard Hlathi told AFP.

One of the deaths was labelled an inquest because the boy reportedly had an existing health condition.

There have been no arrests yet as police compile statements and await post-mortem results.

Ritual circumcision is common among South Africa's ethnic Xhosa, Sotho and Ndebele ethnic groups.

Deaths at so-called initiation schools in South Africa are common, with several hundred cases recorded in recent years due to bleeding and infections.

Boys spend around a month in secluded bush or mountains areas for the sessions that also include lessons on the virtues of masculine courage and discipline.

There are usually two circumcision seasons - in winter during the months of May through July and in summer between November and December.

Government and the ruling African National Congress Party have expressed concern at the deaths which have nonetheless sparked little public outrage.

Government spokeswoman Phumla Williams called on the initiation schools "to ensure that precautionary health measures are exercised during this period to minimise illnesses and death".

Minister in The Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Collins Chabane said he was saddened by the loss of young lives.

The "loss of several young lives in Mpumalanga and elsewhere in the country is regrettable," Chabane said this week.

Earlier story

SOUTH AFRICA: More than 20 die from circumcision

Reuters
May 16, 2013

Over 20 South African boys die in circumcision rituals: police

by Jon Herskovitz, ed. Pascal Fletcher

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - More than 20 South African boys have died over the past week during coming of age rituals, police said on Thursday, and they blamed botched circumcisions as the likely cause of death.

Northern Mpumalanga province's police department has opened 22 murder cases but no arrests have been made so far, spokesman Colonel Leonard Hlathi said.

Every year in South Africa, boys aged 10 to 15 years from several of the country's tribal groups are circumcised in traditional "initiation rituals". The ceremonies usually take place over a number of weeks in remote rural areas.

Deaths are often caused by blood loss or infection when circumcisions are poorly performed by traditional practitioners. [The "poor performance" is a post-hoc judgement. Nobody checks how "well" the circumcisions were performed on the boys who didn't die.]

Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane this week called the recent deaths "regrettable".

"This has happened to young people who were still at their prime, looking forward to a brighter future where they could still reach their potential," he said in a statement.

SOUTH AFRICA: More than 15 die from circumcision

The New Age (South Africa)
May 12, 2013

More than 15 die at initiation school

by Sphiwe Masilela

WITH just a week spent at the bush, at least over 15 boys have died at this year’s winter school and various police departments have launched investigations following the death of young boys who wanted to be men.

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson, Colonel Jay Naicker said Marian hill police were investigating a case of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm after more than eight boys between underwent circumcision.

“We can confirm an incident that occurred where more than eight boys between the ages of 13 and 15 were allegedly circumcised without their parent’s consent in Milkyway Road, Dassenhoek,”

Colonel Leonard Hlathi, Mpumalanga police spokesperson said they were also investigating cases of inquest following the death of eight boys aged between 15 and 21, who died at the initiation schools around KwaMhlanga and Verena areas respectively.

“The incidents occurred on the 08th and 09th of May 2013, where four of the victims were admitted at the local hospital and died later. Two were certified dead on arrival whilst two at one of the initiation schools,” said Hlathi.

He said a probe has been launched in regard to this incidents and the post-mortem will be conducted to determine the cause of death.

“Police are also in the process of verifying whether the initiation schools were registered or not,” he added.

An 18-year-old boy from Dennilton also died at the initiation last Tuesday in Bronkhorstspruit.

It is alleged that the boy bled a lot and resulted in the death.

Police spokesperson, Constable Zanele Vilakazi said: “An Inquest docket has been opened at the Bronkhorstspruit Police station and further investigations conducted to determine the cause of death. It is alleged that the young man was circumcised on Monday night and his body recovered in the early hours of Tuesday morning,” added Vilakazi.

No arrests have been made.

OCEAN CITY, MD: Bloodstained Men create a stir

The Dispatch(Maryland Coast)
April 5, 2013

Roadside Protest Creates A Stir In Downtown OC

by News Editor, Shawn J. Soper

OCEAN CITY -- An otherwise quiet and peaceful post-holiday afternoon was marked by a rather unusual protest even for Ocean City standards when representatives of the “Bloodstained Men” activist group set up shop at the foot of the Route 50 bridge to get their message out.

Passersby on Route 50 at N. Division Street on Tuesday afternoon witnessed three men and one woman wearing white coveralls with a red paint splotch on the crotch symbolizing generations of male children circumcised at birth and called for the abolition of the centuries-old practice. The small group in Ocean City on Tuesday was an extension of a much larger event in Washington D.C. last week marking the 20th anniversary of Genital Integrity Awareness Week. The Ocean City protest on Tuesday also coincided with the 16th anniversary of a ban on female circumcision passed in the U.S. in 1997.

“We’re protesting to end forced genital cutting of male children here in the U.S. and worldwide and bring them into equality with female children,” said Delmarva Area Intactivist Group spokesperson Shelly Wright. “We’re trying to get the word out about circumcision because it shouldn’t be forced on male children. They should have the right to decide that when they are adults and can make decisions on their own.”

Wright was one of four protestors to set up shop at the busy intersection in Ocean City on Tuesday and was joined by three other activists from New Zealand, Texas and Sacramento, Calif., ironically just about under the mileage sign for his own hometown over 3,000 miles away at the western end of Route 50. Wright said the mock blood-stained coveralls were an attempt to force people to face the fact that infant circumcision inflicts permanent physical, psychological and sexual damage on male infants [tant]amount to mutilation.

The protestors held up signs with varied messages including “say no to penis cutting,” and “occupy foreskin,” for example. Wright’s own sign read “For Sale: $431, Infant Foreskin Sold by Hospitals.” She said it is a common practice for hospitals to sell the foreskin removed from circumcised infants, which, she said, is a major ingredient in many high-end anti-aging creams.

Generally, the protestors were met with some cheers, some jeers and more than a few honking horns. The Ocean City Police Department was hanging around close to the scene, but only interceded when one of the protestors briefly stood in the middle of N. Division Street facing oncoming traffic from the bridge.

CANADA: Ethicist plays down circumcision policy change

Canadian Medical Association Bulletin
February 5, 2013

ETHICS CORNER: CIRCUMCISION

by Dr. Jeff Blackmer, Director of Ethics, CMA

What advice should a physician give to parents considering whether or not to have their baby circumcised?

For some parents, the decision is easy because of religious tenets or family tradition. For others, it involves a struggle to balance competing evidence. In Canada this evidence is evaluated and the medical standard is set by the Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS), which since 1996 has held that “circumcision of newborns should not be routinely performed.”

However, in August the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) updated its 1999 policy on circumcision and cited evidence showing that the procedure offers some potential benefits, including lower risk of urinary tract infection (UTI), penile cancer and sexually transmitted disease (STD) infection.

There are, of course, provisos. For instance, most UTIs occur in the first year of life and can be avoided with proper hygiene, and the lower STD rates appear applicable only to certain populations, such as gay men. As well, most of the studies that were consulted by the AAP did not involve North American men. So what should doctors do when parents seek their advice? I would point out that the AAP guidelines do not advocate circumcision as standard practice and state that the final decision should be left up to the parents, as is currently the case. The CPS is currently reviewing the evidence and expects to release an updated statement of its own. Until then, its current advice stands.

So, despite all the recent publicity related to the AAP, not much has changed. Some parents will always choose circumcision, some will always reject it, and some will decide based solely on the evidence. The role of physicians in this decision-making process is simply to remain up to date on the evidence and do all they can to help parents make an informed decision.

Earlier story

JAKARTA: Boy with haemophilia bleeds after circumcision (!)

Jakarta Post
February 21, 2013

Toddler with hemophilia bleeds after circumcision

by Panca Nugraha

Haikal Syafi’i, a three-year-old with hemophilia, has been receiving repeated treatment in hospital for severe bleeding from a circumcision wound.

Haikal from Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), was taken to Gerung Hospital in Lombok Barat after a mass circumcision event last month . He continued to suffer constant bleeding so his parents took him to Bhayangkara Hospital in Mataram, NTB.

“After receiving treatment in those two hospitals, his bleeding continued; so, he was brought to NTB General Hospital (RSUP) on Monday. We found that Haikal is suffering from hemophilia, a disorder in the blood clotting process,” the hospital’s Lalu Ahmadijaya, told The Jakarta Post, on Thursday.

Hemophilia is a genetic disorder that affects mainly boys, famously prevalent in the royal families of Europe.

“This should be a lesson for our people that they should check the health conditions of their children before circumcision.” said Ahmadijaya.

Speaking to the Post, Haikal’s mother, Sanemah, said that her boy attended a mass circumcision with seven other boys from their kampung on Jan.27 to commemorate the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday.

“After being circumcised, he had no complaints. But four days after the procedure, he began bleeding from his circumcision wound,” she said.

“Hemophilia treatment can be costly. Koate, for example, costs around Rp 10 million (US$1,030) per injection and Haikal needs three injections to stop his bleeding,” Ahmadijaya said, adding that Haikal’s treatment would be covered by the government-fund health coverage scheme Jamkesmas. (ebf)

BELGIUM: Circumcised men get less pleasure

Reuters
February 14, 2013

Male circumcision tied to less sexual pleasure

by Andrew M. Seaman
(Reuters Health) - Men circumcised either as children or adults report less intense sexual pleasure and orgasm than their uncircumcised counterparts, according to a new study from Belgium.

"We're not saying less sexual activity or satisfaction, but sensitivity," said the study's senior researcher Dr. Piet Hoebeke, from Ghent University Hospital.

The new study surveyed 1,369 men over the age of 18, who responded to leaflets handed out in train stations across Belgium.

The men were asked whether they were circumcised, and were then asked to rate how sensitive their penis was, how intense their orgasms were and whether they experience any pain or numbness when they are aroused.

Overall, 310 men who took the survey were circumcised, and 1,059 were not. Each rated how sensitive their penis was on a scale from 0 to 5, with higher numbers being the most sensitive.

Overall, uncircumcised men reported between 0.2 points and 0.4 points higher sensitivity and sexual pleasure when their penis's head - known as the glans - was stroked during arousal, compared to circumcised men.

For example, uncircumcised men reported an average sensitivity score of 3.72 when they or their partner stroked the top part of their penis's glans, compared to 3.31 amongst circumcised men.
Uncircumcised men also reported more intense orgasms.

"It's not a very big difference in sensitivity, but it's a significant difference," Hoebeke said.

Currently, about half of U.S. baby boys have their foreskin surgically removed at birth, and about 30 percent of men around the world are circumcised.

Some religions, such as Judaism and Islam, consider circumcision part of religious practice, while other people choose circumcision for possible health benefits - including a reduced risk of urinary tract infections (see Reuters Health article of December 7, 2012 here:).

Hoebeke and his colleagues write in BJU International that there are few studies researching whether foreskin plays a role in sexual pleasure. But Dr. Aaron Tobian, who studies circumcision but was not part of the new study, said that previous randomized controlled trials - considered the gold standard of medical research - looked at sexual performance and satisfaction. [They were studies of adult volunteers for circumcision - not the gold standard at all.] Those studies, he said, did not find a difference. [Becauses the questions were too vague to do so.]

One possible explanation for any potential difference in sensitivity is that a man's foreskin may protect his penis's head from rubbing against underwear and clothing. It's possible, the researchers write, that friction makes the head of the penis thicker, drier and ultimately less sensitive. [Another is simply that the foreskin itself is sensitive, as Taylor found.]

The researchers also found circumcised men were more likely to report more pain and numbness during arousal than uncircumcised men, which Hoebeke said is likely due to scar tissue.
"I'm amazed that people report pain during sexual pleasure… That's very amazing and that was unexpected," he said.

‘ABUNDANTLY CLEAR' EVIDENCE
Tobian, from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said the findings are missing important context.
"The medical evidence and the benefits of male circumcision are abundantly clear," Tobian told Reuters Health. [This is not "context", but another issue altogether.]

"If there was a vaccine out there that reduces the risk of HIV by 60 percent, herpes by 30 percent and the penile cancer causing HPV by 35 percent, the medical community would rally behind it," said Tobian. [There is little or no evidence that circumcision does any of those things.]

The American Academy of Pediatrics says the benefits of male circumcision outweigh the risks, but stops short of recommending universal circumcision (see Reuters story of August 27, 2012 here:).

SOURCE: bit.ly/X7j39D BJU International, online February 4, 2013.

TANZANIA: Campaign to COMPEL men to be circumcised

AllAfrica.com
February 11, 2013

Tanzania: Handeni Promotes Male Circumcision to Curb HIV Spread

Handeni — HANDENI district have launched a campaign to compel men in the area to undergo circumcision as a preventive measure against HIV/AIDS.

The campaign was announced over the weekend by the District Medical Officer (DMO), Dr Somoka Mwakapalala, when speaking during a public rally at Kabuku ward on the last leg of Tanga Regional Commissioner Chiku Gallawa's tour of Handeni.

The RC wanted to know measures that the district has taken so far in sensitizing the public on preventive measures against HIV/AIDS especially those living along highways where the infection rate is still high.

The DMO said apart from sensitizing the people to be faithful to their partners, abstain from sex or use condom, the district had also launched a campaign of encouraging men to undergo circumcision.

According to Dr Mwakapalala, circumcised men have lower chances of being infected with the deadly virus than those who are uncircumcised. He said health workers and activists in the district have been moving around the district to sensitize men do so bearing in mind that some tribes do not practice circumcision.

...

Tanzania
HIV Rates:	Circumcised men	6.5%
	Intact men	5.6%
Source: measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/CR22/CR22.pdf

[We may hope that "compel" is faulty English, but this has been expected for a long time.]

KENYA, ZAMBIA: Dangerous circumcision clamp being used

January 30, 2013

Dangerous circumcision clamp still in use in Africa

by Hugh Young

While the Mogen circumcision clamp is no longer manufactured in the USA, the Mogen company having been driven out of business by legal action, Mogen clamps are still being tested in Africa with a view to circumcising babies to reduce HIV-acquisition. No study has shown infant circumcision has any effect on HIV acquisition.

In 2010, a Florida family won $10.8 million in damages from the Mogen company, after the glans (head) of their son's penis was partially cut off in a Mogen clamp. This followed another successful claim for $7.5 million. As a result the Mogen Company went out of business.

Now, two studies from Africa, involving Mogen clamps have been published, suggesting they should be used on babies there.

J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2013 Jan 1;62(1):e1-6. doi: 10.1097/QAI.0b013e318275741b. A controlled trial of three methods for neonatal circumcision in lusaka, zambia. Bowa K, Li MS, Mugisa B, Waters E, Linyama DM, Chi BH, Stringer JS, Stringer EM. Abstract OBJECTIVE: Neonatal male circumcision (NMC) is not routinely practiced in Zambia, but it is a promising long-term HIV prevention strategy. We studied the feasibility and safety of three different NMC methods. METHODS: We enrolled healthy newborns in a controlled trial of the Mogen, Gomco, and Plastibell devices. Doctors, nurses, and clinical officers were trained to perform Mogen, Gomco, and Plastibell techniques. Each provider performed at least 10 circumcisions using each device. Neonates were reviewed at 1 and 6 weeks after circumcision for adverse events. RESULTS: Between October 2009 and March 2011, 17 providers (5 physicians, 9 nurse midwives, and 3 clinical officers) without previous NMC experience were trained, and 640 circumcisions were performed. The median infant birth weight was 3.2 kg (interquartile range: 2.9-3.5 kg), and median age at the time of procedure was 11 days (interquartile range: 7-18 days); 149 babies (23.3%) were exposed to HIV. The overall adverse event rate was 4.9% (n = 31/630), and the moderate-severe adverse event rate was 4.1% (n = 26/630). Rates did not significantly differ by method. Most providers (65%) preferred Mogen clamp over Gomco and Plastibell. CONCLUSIONS: Doctors, nurses, and clinical officers can be trained to safely provide NMC in a programmatic setting. The 3 studied techniques had comparable safety profiles. Mogen clamp was the preferred device for most providers.

That is, one baby in 24 suffered a moderate-to-severe adverse event, and one baby in 20 any adverse event.

PLoS One. 2012;7(10):e47395. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0047395. Epub 2012 Oct 17 Safety [or danger] of over twelve hundred infant male circumcisions using the Mogen clamp in Kenya. Young MR, Bailey RC, Odoyo-June E, Irwin TE, Obiero W, Ongong'a DO, Badia JA, Agot K, Nordstrom SK. Abstract BACKGROUND: Several sub-Saharan African countries plan to scale-up infant male circumcision (IMC) for cost-efficient HIV prevention. Little data exist about the safety of IMC in East and southern Africa. We calculated adverse event (AE) rate and risks for AEs associated with introduction of IMC services at five government health facilities in western Kenya. METHODS: AE data were analyzed for IMC procedures performed between September, 2009 and November, 2011. Healthy infants aged 2 months [or less] and weighing 2.5 kg [or more] were eligible for IMC. Following parental consent, trained clinicians provided IMC services free of charge under local anesthesia using the Mogen clamp. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were used to explore AE risk factors. FINDINGS: A total of 1,239 IMC procedures were performed. Median age of infants was 4 days (IQR=1, 16). The overall AE rate among infants reviewed post-operatively was 2.7% (18/678; 95%CI: 1.4, 3.9). There was one severe AE involving excision of a small piece of the lateral aspect of the glans penis. Other AEs were mild or moderate and were treated conservatively. Babies one month of age or older were more likely to have an AE (OR 3.20; 95%CI: 1.23, 8.36). AE rate did not differ by nurse versus clinical officer or number of previous procedures performed. CONCLUSION: IMC services provided in Kenyan Government hospitals in the context of routine IMC programming have AE rates comparable to those in developed countries. The optimal time for IMC is within the first month of life.

The Adverse Event frequency of 2.7% reported here is an order of magnitude greater than that reported by the AAP. Any claim the AAP makes of "the benefits exceeding the risks" is diluted by this. The AE rate is also higher than that of 1.7% reported by Weiss, Larke, Halperin and Schenker.

They report a [parental?] dissatisfaction rate of 4% and less than 1 in 10 of those would not circumcise their son again.

Earlier story