Circumcision of male infants as a human rights violation

Journal of Medical Ethics

Volumn 39, Issue 7, 2013, Pages 469-474

  Svoboda, J Steven ^a  

^a Attorneys for the Rights of the Child   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ART; ARTICLE; CHILD; CIRCUMCISION; CONFIDENTIALITY/PRIVACY; ETHICS; HUMAN; HUMAN RIGHTS; HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE; INFORMED CONSENT; INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION; LEGAL ASPECT; MALE; NEWBORN; NEWBORNS AND MINORS; PARENTAL CONSENT; PERSONAL AUTONOMY; RELIGION; SEXUAL CRIME; TORTURE; UNITED STATES; UNNECESSARY PROCEDURE;

CHILDREN; CIRCUMCISION; CONFIDENTIALITY/PRIVACY; INFORMED CONSENT; NEWBORNS AND MINORS;

CIRCUMCISION, MALE; HUMAN BODY; HUMAN RIGHTS; HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES; HUMANS; INFANT, NEWBORN; INTERNATIONALITY; MALE; PARENTAL CONSENT; PERSONAL AUTONOMY; RELIGION AND MEDICINE; SEX OFFENSES; TORTURE; UNITED STATES; UNNECESSARY PROCEDURES;

EID: 84879810694     PISSN: 03066800     EISSN: 14734257     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1136/medethics-2012-101229     Document Type: Article

References (76)

1. Landgericht Köln; 7 May 2012;Urteil Ns 169/11.
2. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. G.A. Resolution 217A (III). United Nations Document No. A/810 (1948). Adopted 10 Dece 1948.
3. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2200 A (XXI). Adopted 16 Dec 1966.
4. Convention on the Rights of the Child. United Nations General Assembly Resolution 44/25. Adopted 20 Nov 1989.
5. United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. United Nations General Assembly Resolution 39/46. Adopted 10 Dec 1984.
6. Waldeck SE. Using male circumcision to understand social norms as multipliers. Univ Cincinnati Law Rev 2003;72:455-526.
7. Bolande RP. Ritualistic surgery-circumcision and tonsillectomy. N Engl J Med 1969;280:591-6.
8. Brown MS, Brown CA. Circumcision decision: prominence of social concerns. Pediatrics 1987;80:215-19.
9. Walton RE, Ostbye T, Campbell MK. Neonatal male circumcision after delisting in Ontario: survey of new parents. Can Fam Physician 1997;43:1241-7.
10. Adler R, Ottaway S, Gould S. Circumcision: we have heard from the experts; now let's hear from the parents. Pediatrics 2001;107:e20.
11. Afsari M, Beasley SW, Maoate K, et al. Attitudes of Pacific parents to circumcision of boys. Pac Health Dialog 2002;9:29-33.
12. Oh SJ, Kim KD, Kim KM, et al. Knowledge and attitudes of Korean parents towards their son's circumcision: a nationwide questionnaire study. BJU Int 2002;89:426-32.
13. Tiemstra JD. Factors affecting the circumcision decision. J Am Board Fam Pract 1999;12:16-20.
14. Hodges F. A short history of the institutionalization of involuntary sexual mutilation in the United States. In: Denniston GC, Milos MF, eds. Sexual mutilations: a human Tragedy. New York: Plenum Press, 1997: 17-40.
15. American Academy of Pediatrics. Circumcision policy statement: Task Force on Circumcision. Pediatrics 2012;130:585-6.
16. Fetus and Newborn Committee, Canadian Paediatric Society. Neonatal circumcision revisited. CMAJ 1996;154:769-80.
17. British Medical Association. The law and ethics of male circumcision: guidance for doctors. J Med Ethics 2004;30:259-63.
18. American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs. Report 10: Neonatal Circumcision. Chicago: American Medical Association, 1999.
19. College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia. Policy manual: infant male circumcision. Vancouver: College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia, 2004.
20. Kendel DA. Caution against routine circumcision of newborn male infants: memo to physicians and surgeons of Saskatchewan. Saskatoon: College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan, 2002.
21. Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Circumcision of infant males. Sydney: Royal Australasian College of Physicians, 2010.
22. Suomen Lääkäriliitto. Poikien ympärileikkaus. http://www.laakariliitto.fi/uutiset/ kannanotot/ymparileikkaus.html (accessed 7 Nov 2012).
23. Royal Dutch Medical Association. Non-therapeutic circumcision of male minors. Amsterdam: KNMG, 2010.
24. Vähäsarja I. News analysis: Finland lacks policy on religiously-mandated male circumcision. Helsingin Sanomat. 28 May 2012. http://www.hs.fi/english/article/NEWS+ANALYSIS+Finland+lacks+policy+on+religiously-mandated+male +circumcision/1329104229469 (accessed 7 Nov 2012).
25. Guiborg C. Swedish docs in circumcision protest. The Local, 19 February 2012. http://m.thelocal.se/39200/20120219/(accessed 7 Nov 2012).
26. Jordans F. Germany approves bill to protect male circumcision. http://start.localnet.com/article.php?category=topstories&article=a028ec0da5f4458fa200891071b65d0d (accessed 19 Dece 2012).
27. Cold CJ, Taylor JR. The prepuce. BJU Int 1999;83(Suppl 1):34-44.
28. Taylor JR, Lockwood AP, Taylor AJ. The prepuce: specialized mucosa of the penis and its loss to circumcision. BJU 1996;77:291-5.
29. Etchells E, Sharpe G, Walsh P, et al. Bioethics for clinicians: 1. Consent. CMAJ 1996;155:177-80.
30. Kant I. Critique of practical reason. Tr. Beck LW. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Educational Publishing, 1956.
31. O'Neill O. Autonomy and trust in bioethics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
32. Rawls J. A theory of justice. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1971.
33. Rawls J. Political liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.
34. Beauchamp TL, Childress JF. Principles of bioethics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
35. Union Pacific Railway Co. v. Botsford, 141 U.S. 250, 251 (1891).
36. Neff C. Woman, womb, and bodily integrity. Yale J Law Fem 1991;3:327-53, 328-39, 337.
37. Svoboda JS, Van Howe RS, Dwyer JG. Informed consent for neonatal circumcision: an ethical and legal conundrum. J Contemp Health Law Policy 2000;17:61-133.
38. Dwyer JG. The relationship rights of children. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
39. Hodges FM, Svoboda JS, Van Howe RS. Prophylactic interventions on children: balancing human rights with public health. J Med Ethics 2002;28:10-16.
40. American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Bioethics. Informed consent, parental permission, and assent in pediatric practice. Pediatrics 1995;95:314-17.
41. James SA. Reconciling international human rights and cultural relativism: the case of female circumcision. Bioethics 1994;8:1-26.
42. The Nereide, 13 U.S. 388, 423 (1815).
43. The Paquete Habana, 175 U.S. 677, 700 (1900).
44. Bilder R. Integrating international human rights law into domestic law-U.S. experience. Houston J Int Law 1981;4:1-12, 2.
45. Paust J. Customary international law: its nature, sources, and status as law of the United States'. Mich J Int Law 1990;12:59-91, 86-7.
46. Henkin L. International law as law in the United States. Mich Law Rev 1984;82:1555-69, 1561.
47. Paust J. Self-executing treaties. Am J Int Law 1988;82:760-83, 766.
48. Damrosch LF. The role of the United States concerning "self-executing" and "non-self-executing" treaties. Chic Kent Law Rev 1991;67:515-32, 527.
49. Sloss D. The domestication of international human rights: non-self-executing declarations and human rights treaties. Yale J Int Law 1999;24:129-221, 156.
50. Paust J. Avoiding fraudulent executive policy: analysis of non-self-execution of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. De Paul L Rev 1992-93;42:1257-86, 1259.
51. Riesenfeld SA. The doctrine of self-executing treaties and U.S. v. Postal: win at any price? Am J Int Law 1980;74:892-904, 900.
52. Deener DR. Treaties, constitutions, and judicial review. VA J Int Law 1964;4:7-34, 15-16.
53. Riesenfeld SA, Abbott FM. Foreword: symposium on parliamentary participation in the making and operation of treaties. Chic Kent Law Rev 1991;67:293-312, 296-97.
54. Mower AG Jr. The convention on the rights of the child: International Law Support for Children. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997.
55. Shackel R. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Aus Int Law J 2003;2003:21-60.
56. Drinan RF. The mobilization of shame. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2001:96.
57. Carpenter RC. Forgetting children born of war: setting the human rights agenda in Bosnia and beyond. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010:18.
58. Statute of the International Court of Justice, June 26, 1945, article 38, 59 Stat. 1055, T.S. 993.
59. Gunning I. Modernizing customary international law: the challenge of human rights. VA J Int Law 1991;31:211-47, 214.
60. Restatement (Third) of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States § 111, comments d and e.
61. Stephens B. The law of our land: customary international law as federal law after Erie. Fordham Law Rev 1998;66:393-461, 460, 394.
62. Svoboda JS. Routine infant male circumcision: examining the human rights and constitutional issues. In: Denniston GC, Milos MF, eds. Sexual mutilations: a human tragedy. New York: Plenum Press, 1997:205-15.
63. Ludbrook R. The child's right to bodily integrity. Current Issues Crim Just 1995;7:123-32, 128, citing Concluding Observations on Report by Canada CRC/C/15/Add.37 (20 June 1995) at para. 25; Concluding Observations on Report by United Kingdom CRC/C/15/Add.34 ( January 1995) at 6.
64. Bollinger D. Lost boys: an estimate of U.S. circumcision-related infant deaths. THYMOS: J Boyhood Studies 2010;4:78-90.
65. Blower SM, McLean AR. Prophylactic vaccines, risk behavior change, and the probability of eradicating HIV in San Francisco. Science 1994;265:1451-4.
66. Lima A, Anema A, Wood R, et al. The combined impact of male circumcision, condom use and HAART coverage on the HIV-1 epidemic in South Africa: a mathematical model. 5th IAS Conference on HIV Treatment, Pathogenesis and Prevention; Cape Town. Abstract Number WEAC105. 19-22 July 2009.
67. Wallerstein E. Circumcision: an American health fallacy. New York: Springer Publishing Company, 1980.
68. Van Howe RS. Personal communication, 24 May 2011.
69. American Medical Association Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. The Code of Medical Ethics: Current Opinions with Annotations. 1996-1997 Edition. Chicago: American Medical Association, 1997.
70. Gonik B, Barrett K. The persistence of newborn circumcision: an American perspective. BJOG 1995;102:940-1.
71. Gordon A. Why do we still circumcise male babies? BJOG 1995;102:939-40.
72. Van Howe RS. Why does neonatal circumcision persist in the United States? In: Denniston GC, Milos MF, eds. Sexual mutilations: a human tragedy. New York: Plenum Press, 1997: 111-19.
73. Bcheraoui C El, Greenspan J, Kretsinger K, et al. Rates of selected neonatal male circumcision-associated severe adverse events in the United States, 2007-2009. Abstract. XVIII International AIDS Conference, Vienna, Austria. 18-23 July 2010.
74. Rabin RC. Steep drop seen in circumcisions in US. NY Times 17 August 2010:D6.
75. McGrath K, Young H. A review of circumcision in New Zealand: "I never like doing them and I was pleased to give them up". In: Denniston GC, Hodges FM, Milos MF, eds. Understanding circumcision: a multidisciplinary approach to a multi-dimensional problem. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2001: 129-46.
76. Shannon FT, Horwood LJ, Fergusson DM. Infant circumcision. NZ Med J 1979;90:283-4.