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'''Lars Stephan''' is a German politician and [[intactivist ]] who spoke at the [[WWDOGA]] 2019 in Cologne, Germany.
Lars Stephan is Deputy Chairman of the [[Partei der Humanisten|Humanists Party]] NRW. He criticizes policymakers for their inconsistent interpretation of [[human rights]].
{{Citation
|Text=The fundamental right to [[physical integrity ]] must apply regardless of gender, for each child. We therefore demand that the exemption, which still applies to male newborns, be removed from the Civil Code.
|Author=Lars Stephan
}}
|Text=Hello and have a nice day on this unusual path. My name is Lars Stephan and I am the deputy state chairman of the Party of Humanists in North Rhine-Westphalia.
I have to admid, I had a hard time writing a post this year. The topic of this year's Worldwide Day of Genital Autonomy is, as you know, the history and stories of education about genital self-determination. So I thought I would first like to talk about the stories, about the suffering of those affected. So I did some research. Like the usual way I searched for articles about [[circumcision ]] victims. I searched for numbers of how many children are [[circumcised]]. How many people suffer from the consequences? How doe they deal with that?
Of course, the stories of the victims should have an emotional impact. The numbers should [[shock]]... I sorted out many stories. I had heard them all before. I thought about putting the numbers in a context to make them look big ...
And then I asked myself: <q>What am I doing here?</q> Why is the number important? Isn't every single case too much? If only one child has to suffer from the consequences? Isn't every single fate terrible? Even if we already heard hundreds of these stories?
Anyone who suffers from the effects of [[circumcision ]] does so for the first time. It probably doesn't help him to know how many suffered the same thing before him! If there are no medical reasons, it doesn't matter why a child has been [[circumcised]]. If the fundamental right to [[physical integrity ]] has been violated, then we have to talk about it. It doesn't matter what gender a child is. It doesn't matter which religion the parents belong to. It doesn't matter where a child comes from or what was the motive for a person to intervene in this right.
We need to continue educating about the suffering that [[circumcision ]] causes. We cannot compromise on fundamental rights. For this reason we support [[WWDOGA]]. We demand the deletion of § 1631d from the Civil Code and consistent compliance with the basic right to physical integrity also for children.
The [https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention UN Convention on the Rights of the Child ] requires the state to take all appropriate legislative, social and educational measures to protect the "child against any form of physical or mental violence, harm or ill treatment" [Art. 19.1 Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN)]. <q>Traditional customs that are harmful to children's health</q> must be abolished.
Thank you for working together on these goals.