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'''Human rights''' are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, security of the person, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.<ref>{{REFweb

The practice of non-therapeutic [[circumcision]], which is rooted in antiquity, predates recorded history, and was re-instituted in the 19th century for alleged medical reasons, predates the inauguration of the human rights era in 1945. The advent of and recognition of human rights for all (including patients) has profoundly altered medical ethics and the acceptability of non-therapeutic child circumcision.

Children, unlike adults, possess two sets of human rights. <ref>{{REFjournal |last=Hill |first= |init=G |author-link=George Hill |title=The case against circumcision |journal=Journal of Men's Health and Gender |date=2007 |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=318-23 |url=https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=04ace5046cc27f01b8fbe4aa359c059778983912 |quote= |format=PDF |accessdate=2023-10-01}}</ref> [[UNICEF ]] says:

|publisher=[[UNICEF]]

The General Assembly of the United Nations, acting to fulfill its obligations under the Charter, adopted the ''[[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]]'' (UDHR) in 1948.<refname="udhr1948">{{REFdocument

The General Assembly adopted the ''[[International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights]]'' (ICCPR) in 1967.<refname="iccpr1967">{{REFdocument |title=International Covenant on Civil and Political RightsRight

The General Assembly adopted the ''Convention on the Rights of the Child'' ([[UN-CRC]]) in 1989 (Twenty-two years later). The [[UN-CRC ]] does not include certain rights of children that were already protected by the [[ICCPR.  ==Application of the ICCPR to non-therapeutic circumcision of children== Articles 1, 7, 9, and 24 are applicable to male and female non-therapeutic circumcision of children. Each nation that is a state-party under the ICCPR, which took effect in 1976, pledges to enforce those rights for its citizens. ====Article one====Article one provides in part:1. All peoples have the right of self-determimtion, "By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. Self-determination is the right to decide for one's self. This provides for genital autonomy, which is the right to decide for one's self if one's genitals are to be surgically altered. Genital autonomy is provided by delaying a non-therapeutic surgical operation on a child until the child is of age at which he or she can decide for one's self. ====Article seven====Article 7 provides:<blockquote>No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In particular, no one shall be subjected without his free consent to medical or scientific experimentation.</blockquote> Non-therapeutic circumcision of children is cruel because it permanently deprives the victim of the optimum sexual function and pleasure for all of his life. It is degrading because it amputates a portion of the penis and renders it less functional. ====Article nine====Article 9 provides:<blockquote>Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person.</blockquote> Security of person is the right to bodily integrity. Bodily integrity is compromised when part of the penis is amputated, so non-therapeutic circumcision of non-consenting children violates this provision of international law]].

====Article twentyApplication of the ICCPR to non-four==therapeutic circumcision of children ==Article 24 provides''See [[International_Covenant_on_Civil_and_Political_Rights#Application_of_the_ICCPR_to_non-therapeutic_circumcision_of_children|ICCPR:<blockquote>Every child shall have, without any discrimination as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, national or social origin, property or birth, Application of the right ICCPR to such measures of protection as are required by his status as a minor, on the part of his family, society and the State.</blockquote> When a child is denied protection from harmful, tissue-removing, non-therapeutic circumcision, this right is violatedof children]].''

The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the ''Convention on the Rights of the Child'' ([[UN-CRC]]) on 20 November 1989.<ref name="crc1989">{{REFdocument

}}</ref> The [[UN-CRC ]] does not replace the [[ICCPR]], which had been previously adopted by the General Assembly. The [[ICCPR ]] already provides certain rights to children. The [[UN-CRC ]] adds additional rights that children need for protection due to their immaturity and vulnerability. The two documents must be read together to receive the complete picture. Unfortunately, many seem to believe that rights provided by the [[UN-CRC ]] are the only human rights of children, but that view is incorrect.

1. States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child's or his or her parent's or legal guardian's race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.<ref name="crc1989" />

This means, with application to non-therapeutic circumcision, that the child, who is capable of expressing an opinion, shall have his views considered.<ref name="crc1989"/>

3. Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health or morals, or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others. <ref name="crc1989"/>

2. Such protective measures should, as appropriate, include effective procedures for the establishment of social programmes to provide necessary support for the child and for those who have the care of the child, as well as for other forms of prevention and for identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment and follow-up of instances of child maltreatment described heretofore, and, as appropriate, for judicial involvement.<ref name="crc1989"/>

Article twenty-four has several paragraphs. Paragraph three is of special importance to male circumcision which is a traditional practice that dates back to before the advent of recorded history.<ref name="crc1989"/>

Male circumcision always results in the permanent and irreversible loss of the [[foreskin]], a structure with protective, immunological, sexual, and sensory functions. The loss of the protective and immunological functions are harmful to physical health. The loss of the sensory and sexual functions are harmful to [[https://en.intactiwiki.org/index.php/Sexual_effects_of_circumcision| sexual]] and [[Psychological issues of male circumcision| mental]] health. We have long known that non-therapeutic circumcision of children sometimes results in [[death]]. [[Douglas Gairdner]] (1949) reported circumcision caused nineteen deaths in England and Wales in 1946.<ref name="fate1949">{{REFjournal |last=Gairdner |first=D.M. |title=The fate of the foreskin: a study of circumcision |journal=British Medical Journal |volume=2 |issue=4642 |pages=1433-7 |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2051968/pdf/brmedj03656-0009.pdf |quote= |pubmedID=15408299 |pubmedCID=2051968 |DOI=10.1136/bmj.2.4642.1433 |date=GairdnerDM 1949 |accessdate=2020-02-02}}</ref> Bollinger (2010) estimated 117 the circumcision-related mortality rate of 0.9/100,000 circumcisions (more than 100 deaths ) per year in the United States.<ref name="bollinger2010">{{REFjournal |last=Bollinger |first=Dan |author-link=Dan Bollinger |last2=Boy's Health Advisory |title=Lost Boys: An Estimate of U.S. Circumcision-Related Infant Deaths |journal=Thymos: Journal of Boyhood Studies |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=78-90 |url=http://www.mensstudies.com/content/b64n267w47m333x0/?p=7ebbd6b446d940cbbd4274c095754b12π=5 |quote= |pubmedID= |pubmedCID= |DOI=10.3149/thy.0401.78 |date=BollingerD 2010-04-26 |accessdate=2020-02-02}}</ref>

In addition to possible death, [[bleeding]], infection, and surgical misadventure that may result in various injuries, including loss of the penis are more common occurences.

The religious rights of the child are often overlooked. The religious rights of the child are enunciated by Article 18 of the [[ICCPR ]] and also by the [[UN-CRC ]] Article 14. The right to modify or not modify one's body in accordance with one's religious views is a human right. That right belongs to the individual and no one else. A decision by a parent to circumcise a child tramples on the child's religious rights, so no decision should be taken until the child is of age to decide for himself.

The Congress of the United States of America, therefore, historically has been protective of the sovereign rights of the United States and reluctant to surrender them by treaty. The [[ICCPR ]] and the [[UN-CRC ]] are multi-lateral treaties.

The United States Senate ratified the [[ICCPR ]] in 1992, but it doing so, it took an extraordinary number of reservations, understandings, and declarations. With these reservations, the [[ICCPR ]] does not provide a cause for action in United States courts.<ref>{{REFdocument

|publisher={{UNI|Northwestern University |NWU}} Journal of International Human Rights

}}</ref> The effect is to render the [[ICCPR ]] toothless in the United States.

Madeleine Albright, then ambassador to the United Nations, signed the [[UN-CRC ]] on behalf of the United States on 16 February 1995. The [[UN-CRC]], however, is at variance with United States law, so it has never been submitted to the Senate of the United States for ratification. The [[United States of America]] is the only country in the world that is not a state-party to the [[UN-CRC]], so the [[UN-CRC ]] has only moral authority in the United States.

The [[Declaration of Helsinki (2012)]] declared the ''right of [[genital autonomy]]'', which derives from the right of every human being to ''security of person''. Svoboda (2015) reports there now is an emerging consensus that a decision to perform a non-therapeutic circumcision should be deferred until the child is of age and can decide for himself about having an [[amputation ]] of his [[foreskin]].<ref name="svoboda2015">{{REFjournal |last=Svoboda

|title=Growing World Consensus world consensus to Leave Circumcision Decision leave circumcision decision to the Affected Individual |trans-title= |language=affected individual

|publisher=[[Doctors Opposing Circumcision(D.O.C.)]]

}}The Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG) took a strong position against non-therapeutic child circumcision in 2010. 

 [[Categoryde:LawsMenschenrechte]]