Jurisprudence

At the moment there is a split legal situation regarding the genital mutilation of minors: While female genitalia (not only of girls, but also of women) are virtually protected against mutilation by corresponding concrete laws worldwide, male genitals are hardly anywhere explicitly protected against mutilation. Although genital mutilation is fundamentally a personal injury against the will of the person concerned, not only politicians, but also many courts bow to the pressure of religious interest groups or follow outdated information from physicians.

Here are a few examples of specific case law related to male genital mutilation:

Work in progress: The following information does not claim to be complete. More content will be added gradually.

Germany

• 2012: The so-called Cologne circumcision court judgment of 7 May 2012 has definitely gone down in history, but it has triggered a short, heated circumcision debate in Germany and the German-speaking neighboring countries, on 12 December 2012 to hasty adoption of the so-called German Circumcision Act led to the repeal of the Cologne circumcision court judgment.
• 2019: In Ascheberg, a 43-year-old Syrian surgeon was sentenced to a prison sentence of 2.5 years on 10 October 2019 for failing to carry out the foreskin amputation of a six-month-old infant and others in a professional manner.

Ireland

• In 2015, a father-of-six, Philip Ogbewe, from Nigeria but living in Ireland 20 years and residing at Green Lanes, Drogheda, Co Louth, used a blade on the infant during a crude cultural circumcision. Ogbewe pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment of life by performing the circumcision on the baby which led to serious haemorrhaging which created a substantial risk of death or serious harm, at the infant’s home in a midlands town on December 4th, 2015.

South Africa

• In 2020, sixteen cases have been opened and ten people arrested for unlawful circumcision and contravention of the lockdown regulations in the Eastern Cape. Twenty four illegal initiation huts have been closed down. The incidents took place in Indwe, Ngqeleni, King Sabatha Dalindyebo area, Port St Johns, Tsolo, Mdantsane, Scenery Park and Nxarhuni. It is notable here that the circumcision seems to have been forbidden only because of the corona lockdown regulations.

Switzerland

• In 2019, the Zurich Supreme Court ruled that a Muslim boy should not be cut off the foreskin, although the mother wishes to do so. The circumcision would harm the child's well-being and was also not medically indicated. Meanwhile, it became known that the verdict was due to an inappropriate legal opinion only because the boy has a mental disorder.

Uganda

• In 2019, Mr. Musa Lwanga has been arrested over forceful circumcision on 16 children, age 4-13, in the Mpigi district of Uganda, the police reported. It has been established that Musa allegedly picked up children from schools and along the way without the consent of the parents, he later took them to hospital for circumcision as he earns 50,000 Uganda Shilling (UGX - about 13.55 USD) per head. The case hasen't been ruled yet.

UK

• In 2013, a doctor circumcised a baby boy when the supposed paternal grandparents of the boy ordered him to do so. In 2017, these three suspects have been arrested after the mother of the boy fought for years. It wasn’t until she teamed up with the anti-circumcision group Men Do Complain and leading human rights lawyer Saimo Chahal QC that things began to change. All three were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm, though it’s unclear what became of the case and whether or not charges proceeded against the grandparents. However, the doctor in question, Dr. Balvinder Mehat, was suspended for a month.
• In the case of Re B and G (children) (No 2) EWFC 3 , [2015], Sir James Munby ruled that male infant circumcision constituted "significant harm" and therefore a violation of the Children Act 1989.
• In the 2016 case of Re L and B (CHILDREN) the court ruled that circumcision should be deferred until the child is old enough to decide for himself.
• In 2021, a British judge has ruled that a boy who was taken into care shouldn't be subjected to non-consensual, non-therapeutic genital cutting. Mr. Justice Cobb said a decision about circumcision should be deferred until the 21-month-old boy is older and able to ‘make his own choice’.

See also

• Application of Health Standards in Traditional Circumcision Act
• Attorneys for the Rights of the Child

External links

• (30 September 2013). Circumcision: Legal issues, Circumcision Reference Library. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
• Hill, George (15 July 2008). Ch. 10: American Law and the Circumcision of Children (DOC Genital Integrity Statement) , Research Hub, Doctors Opposing Circumcision (D.O.C.). Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  Quote: If a child does not need a circumcision, then the parental power to seek a circumcision does not exist.

A consent for an unnecessary circumcision would be vitiated and invalid, so any circumcision performed with such a consent would be medical battery or criminal assault.