Denmark

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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.

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.

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.

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

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

Human rights

Council of Europe

Denmark became a founder member of the Council of Europe on 5 May 1949. As a member of the Council of Europe, Denmark is subject to the European Convention on Human Rights 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.

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.

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

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

Intactivist organizations

• Intact Denmark

• Just a Snip

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.

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.

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).

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

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.

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.

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].