Difference between revisions of "Denmark"

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Every child shall have, without any discrimination as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, national or social origin, property or birth, the right to such measures of protection as are required by his status as a minor, on the part of his family, society and the State.
 
Every child shall have, without any discrimination as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, national or social origin, property or birth, the right to such measures of protection as are required by his status as a minor, on the part of his family, society and the State.
  
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Denmark has covenanted to provide protection of these rights.
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Denmark has covenanted to provide protection of these rights.<ref name="iccpr1967">{{REFdocument
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|url=https://treaties.un.org/doc/Treaties/1976/03/19760323%2006-17%20AM/Ch_IV_04.pdf
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==Medical science==
 
==Medical science==

Revision as of 00:18, 6 October 2020

Construction Site

This article is work in progress and not yet part of the free encyclopedia IntactiWiki.

 

Denmark, officially the Kingdom of Denmark, is a constitutional monarchy. The parliament is called the Folketing. The parliament is a unicameral body of 179 members.[1]

Nordic view of non-therapeutic circumcision of boys.

Denmark is a Nordic nation in Northern Europe. Like other Nordic nations, the people abhor child circumcision.

In 2013, children's ombudsmen from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland, along with the Chair of the Danish Children's Council and the children's spokesperson for Greenland, passed a resolution that emphasized the decision to be circumcised should belong to the individual, who should be able to give informed consent.[2]

The Nordic Association of Clinical Sexologists (2013) supports the position of the Nordic Association of Ombudsmen who reason that circumcision violates the individual's human rights by denying the male child his ability to make the decision for himself.[3]

The medical doctors at Sørland Hospital in Kristiansand, Southern Norway have all refused to perform circumcisions on boys, citing reasons of conscience.[4]

One report indicates that six Danish political parties favor a ban on non-therapeutic child circumcision.[5]

Human rights

Council of Europe

Denmark became a founder member of the Council of Europe on 5 May 1949.[6] As a member of the Council of Europe, Denmark is subject to the European Convention on Human Rights[7] and is pledged to advance the enumerated rights in its territory. It may be sued in the European Court of Human Rights for violations of its duty.

The Right to Security of Person is provided by Article Five of the ECHR.

ICCPR

Denmark is a state-party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1967). Article 2(1) of that covenant provides:

1. Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to respect and to ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its Jurisdiction the rights recognized in the present Covenant, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Some rights recognized by the Covenant relevant to the non-therapeutic circumcision of male children are:

Article seven

Degrading treatment

Article nine

Security of person

Article twenty-four

Every child shall have, without any discrimination as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, national or social origin, property or birth, the right to such measures of protection as are required by his status as a minor, on the part of his family, society and the State.

Denmark has covenanted to provide protection of these rights.[8]

Medical science

Denmark has produced important medical studies regarding the foreskin.

Jakob Øster, a Danish physician in Randers, Denmark who conducted school examinations, reported his findings on the examination of school-boys in Denmark, where circumcision is rare. Øster (1968) found that the incidence of fusion of the foreskin with the glans penis steadily declines with increasing age and foreskin retractability increases with age.[9]

Morten Frisch et al. (2011) produced an important study elucidating the relationship between circumcision and sexual function difficulties.[10]

Morten & Simonsen (2015) of the Danish National Serum Institute associate neonatal non-therapeutic circumcision with autism spectrum disorder.[11]

Intactivist organizations

Recent developments

The Danish Association of General Medicine (2014) declared:

The Health Agency has sent 'Guidance on Circumcision of Boys' in consultation. The DSAM's [Board] of Directors has discussed the draft consultation and agree that circumcision may only be performed when there is a medical indication for it. If circumcision is performed without a medical indication, it is a case of mutilation.[12]

The Danish Medical Association (Lægeforeningen) (2016) has recommended that no boys under the age of 18 be circumcised in Denmark. Lise Møller, the chairwoman of the doctors’ association’s ethics board, said:

To be circumcised should be an informed, personal choice. It is most consistent with the individual’s right to self-determination that parents not be allowed to make this decision but that it is left up to the individual when he has come of age.[13]

The Danish Health Ministry (2016) announced that, beginning in 2017, all circumcisions, regardless of where they take place, will need to be reported to Denmark’s national patient registry (Landspatientregistret).[13]

According to a poll taken in 2016, eighty-seven percent of Danes favor a ban on non-therapeutic circumcision of children.[14]

Intact Denmark circulated a citizens petition, which received the necessary 50,000 signatures to require consideration of a ban on child, was presented to the Folketing in September 2018.[15]

Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister of Denmark, argues that an alleged promise made to Jews in the aftermath of World War II takes precedence over Denmark's clear obligations under international law of human rights to protect the human rights of its citizens, including boys.[16]

On 21 September 2020 Morten Frisch and 41 of his colleagues (chief physicians, specialists, ward doctors and junior doctors) protested the knee-jerk reaction to religious pressure in an open letter to the [Danish Patient Safety Authority].[17]

References

  1. ↑ REFdocument Constitution of Denmark. (5 June 1953). Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  2. ↑ REFweb Nordic Association of Children's Ombudsmen (30 September 2013). Let the boys decide for themselves. Retrieved 5 October 2020.[] Tuesday, 1 October 2013
  3. ↑ REFdocument Statement on Non-Therapeutic Circumcision of Boys PDF, Nordic Association of Clinical Sexologists. (3 October 2013). Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  4. ↑ REFnews Faull, Solrun F. (30 August 2016)."Hospital doctors in Southern Norway will not circumcise boys".
  5. ↑ REFnews W, Christian (11 September 2020)."Denmark refuses to ban the ritual circumcision of boys", http://cphpost.dk, Copenhagen Post. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  6. ↑ REFweb Denmark // 47 States, one Europe. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  7. ↑ REFdocument European Convention on Human Rights PDF, Council of Europe. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  8. ↑ REFdocument International Covenant on Civil and Political Right PDF, United Nations. (1967). Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  9. ↑ REFjournal Øster, Jakob. Further Fate of the Foreskin: Incidence of Preputial Adhesions, Phimosis, and Smegma among Danish Schoolboys. Arch Dis Child. 1968; 43: 200-3. PMID. PMC. DOI. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  10. ↑ REFjournal Frisch, Morten, Lindholm, Morten, Grønbæk, Morten. Male circumcision and sexual function in men and women: a survey-based, cross-sectional study in Denmark.. Int J Epidemiol.. 14 June 2011; 40(5): 1367. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  11. ↑ REFjournal Frisch, Morten, Simonsen, Jacob. Ritual circumcision and risk of autism spectrum disorder in 0- to 9-year-old boys: national cohort study in Denmark. J R Soc Med. July 2015; 108(7): 266-79. PMID. PMC. DOI. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  12. ↑ REFweb Havskov, Jens (20 December 2014). Doctors are now speaking out: circumcision is a violation and should be banned. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  13. ↑ a b REFnews (5 December 2016)."Danish Doctors Come Out Against Circumcision", https://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org, The Local. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  14. ↑ REFnews Da Vine, Lily. "Comparing Circumcision in Denmark to the US: Why the Danes are Ahead", https://thehomestead.guru, Homestead Guru. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  15. ↑ REFnews Gadd, Stephen (1 June 2018)."Danish MPs to vote on under-18s circumcision ban", http://cphpost.dk/, CPH Online. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  16. ↑ REFnews W, Christian (11 September 2020)."Denmark refuses to ban the ritual circumcision of boys", http://cphpost.dk, CPH Post Online. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  17. ↑ REFdocument Frisch, Morten / Arash Afshar / Kasper Ankjærgaard / Lisbeth Asserhøj, / Niels Bentzon / Eva Christensen / Lise Darling: Letter of Complaint. (21 September 2020). Retrieved 5 October 2020.
    Quote: When Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen claims to want to fight anti-Semitism in Denmark, it does not benefit the case that she and her government almost equate circumcision resistance and anti-Semitism, let a painful and destructive ritual like boy circumcision continue at the request of religious Danish Jews and at the same time let consideration to 'Jewish law' make it impossible to ensure proper surgery and optimal pain relief for the - predominantly Muslim - boys, who in future come under the knife, as long as the ritual is legal in Denmark.
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