UNICEF

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UNICEF promotes the circumcision of children in violation of international human rights law as HIV prevention policy.[1]

Unicef.jpg
Deputy Director:
Stephen H. Lewis (1995-1999)
Rao Gupta (2011)
Related Organizations:
UNAIDS
World Health Organization

Contents

Children & AIDS brochure

“ Young people everywhere need accurate and relevant information about sexual and reproductive health and HIV transmission, as well as opportunities to build risk-reduction skills. They also need access to appropriate HIV prevention services, including voluntary counseling and testing, harm reduction, sexual and reproductive health services, PMTCT and male circumcision, and to commodities including condoms. (UNICEF)[2]

Swaziland

UNAIDS is working with the Swaziland Ministry of Health to introduce and scale up neonatal circumcision.[3]

Point of Interest: In recent studies, HIV transmission was found to be more prevalent in circumcised males in Swaziland. The drive to circumcise the majority of Swazi men continues none the less.[4]

Rape scandals

Various children rape scandals of leading UNICEF members like Peter Newell are documented and cast another shadow on the children's rights organization.[5][6]

Criticism

The VMMC Experience Project has published a massive, illustrated 153-page report on VMMC in Africa for the United Nations.[7]

Double standard

In 2020, the French blog La dague et le fourreau pointed out that UNICEF France is well aware of the suffering inflicted on boys by genital mutilation.[8] The article goes into detail on information published by WHO and UNICEF and criticizes the fact that UNICEF does not take a stand against this suffering that boys are exposed to worldwide. It shows that UNICEF knows very well that the most brutal circumcisions take place without any pain suppression, with primitive tools such as razor blades, and yet does not speak out against such practices.

In 2021, UNICEF has published an article on the subject of female circumcision with the title "No child should experience such pain" on their German blog.[9] No boys are mentioned here. To comments in the blog that indicate that UNICEF is arguing very one-sidedly here, UNICEF replies with a standard text module in which it says:

“ Female genital mutilation / circumcision is a serious violation of human and children's rights. It can lead to lifelong complaints and complications. For many girls, the procedure is fatal. The abolition of this practice is the goal of the international community in the Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDG Goal No. 5). We are committed to this goal, including with this contribution. We know that the issue of male circumcision is controversial and emotional. UNICEF takes seriously the concerns raised about the right to physical integrity and self-determination.
– Laura Sandgathe (UNICEF)[9]

German intactivist Ulf Dunkel responded to this on his blog and wrote a comprehensive reply that proves UNICEF double standards.[10]

Circumcision does not prevent HIV infection

Population-based studies

September 2021 saw the publication of two huge population studies on the relationship of circumcision and HIV infection:

  1. Mayan et al. (2021) carried out a massive empirical study of the male population of the province of Ontario, Canada (569,950 males), of whom 203,588 (35.7%) were circumcised between 1991 and 2017. The study concluded that circumcision status is not related to risk of HIV infection.[11]
  2. Morten Frisch & Jacob Simonsen (2021) carried out a large scale empirical population study in Denmark of 855,654 males regarding the alleged value of male circumcision in preventing HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in men. They found that circumcised men have a higher rate of STI and HIV infection overall than intact men.[12]

No association between lack of circumcision and risk of HIV infection was found by either study. There now is credible evidence that the massive, expensive African circumcision programs have not been effective in preventing HIV infection.

Two African surveys

The previously reported studies were from developed Western nations. Now we have information from Sub_Saharan Africa.

French scientist Michel Garenne, Ph.D. has published two reports in 2022 comparing the incidence of HIV infection in circumcised and intact men.

In his first report, Garenne presented the findings from a study in Lesotho, the enclave in South Africa. He reported:

In couple studies, the effect of circumcision and VMMC on HIV was not significant, with similar transmission from female to male and male to female. The study questions the amount of effort and money spent on VMMC in Lesotho.[13]

In his second report, Garenne (2022) presented information from six Sub-Saharan African nations (Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe). He reported:

"Results matched earlier observations made in South Africa that circumcised and intact men had similar levels of HIV infection."[14]

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑   Eastern and Southern Africa: Medical male circumcision, UNICEF. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
    Quote: [...] the Government and UNICEF are working together to introduce infant male circumcision [...]
  2. ↑ Key Messages of Chapter 3. Children and AIDS. pg.15 (2008)
  3. ↑   Mazzotta, Meredith (4 March 2011)."Swaziland embarks on ambitious plan to circumcise 80 percent of men 18 to 49 this year", Science Speaks: HIV & TB News. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
    Quote: The Ministry of Health, supported principally by UNICEF and PEPFAR, is currently working to introduce and scale up neonatal circumcision.
  4. ↑   Swaziland Demographic and Health Survey 2006-07. Mbabane, Swaziland: Central Statistical Office and Macro International Inc.. 2008; Retrieved 6 May 2011.
    Quote: As Table 14.10 shows, the relationship between HIV prevalence and circumcision status is not in the expected direction. Circumcised men have a slightly higher HIV infection rate than men who are not circumcised (22 percent compared with 20 percent)
  5. ↑   Fielding, James (16 February 2018)."Top UNICEF children's rights campaigner - who led UK's anti-smacking campaign - is jailed for rape of boy, 13, in latest charity sex scandal", Mailonline. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  6. ↑   Simpson, John (17 February 2018)."Paedophile Peter Newell had key role at child charity", The Times. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  7. ↑   Fish, Max: Circumcision Campaigns: African experience and human rights: The U.N. Report  , VMMC Experience Project. (7 May 2019). Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  8. ↑   (10 June 2020). Circoncisions d’enfants sans anesthésie et sans consentement : UNICEF France doit sortir du silence [Circumcisions of children without anesthesia and without consent: UNICEF France must break the silence] (French). Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  9. ↑ a b   Sandgathe, Laura (28 June 2021). Mädchenbeschneidung: "Kein Kind sollte solche Schmerzen erfahren müssen" [Female circumcision: "No child should experience such pain"] (German), UNICEF. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  10. ↑   Dunkel, Ulf (18 July 2021). UNICEF, bitte keine Doppelmoral mehr [UNICEF, please no more double standards] (German). Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  11. ↑   Mayan M, Hamilton RJ, Juurlink DN, Austin PC, Jarvi KA. Circumcision and Risk of HIV Among Males From Ontario, Canada. J Urol. 23 September 2021; PMID. DOI. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
    Quote: We found that circumcision was not independently associated with the risk of acquiring HIV among men from Ontario, Canada.
  12. ↑   Frisch M, Simonsen J. Non-therapeutic male circumcision in infancy or childhood and risk of human immunodeficiency virus and other sexually transmitted infections: national cohort study in Denmark. Eur J Epidemiol. 26 September 2021; 37: 251–9. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  13. ↑   Garenne M. Changing relationships between HIV prevalence and circumcision in Lesotho. J Biosoc Sci. 4 April 2022; online ahead of print: 1-16. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  14. ↑   Garenne M. Age-incidence and prevalence of HIV among intact and circumcised men: an analysis of PHIA surveys in Southern Africa. J Biosoc Sci. 26 October 2022; : 1-13. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
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