Five political parties in Iceland presented a bill that seeks to prohibit circumcision in children and proposes a six-year prison sentence to anyone guilty of "removing entire or in part sexual organs" when it is not for medical reasons. If approved, it would be the first European country to ban circumcision by law.
The proposal considers the circumcision of children under 18 a human rights violation, and compares it to female ablation, forced genital mutilation that millions of girls suffer each year. Muslim and Jewish religious leaders, for their part, condemn the proposal because they consider that attempt against religious freedom. What is the right that prevails in these cases?
What is circumcision?
Circumcision consists in circularly cutting a portion of the foreskin of the human penis, an operation that is usually performed on young children for medical reasons, but also for religious, cultural or simply aesthetic reasons.
For medical reasons, it is practiced to correct phimosis when it does not resolve on its own. Phimosis is the inability to lower the skin of the foreskin of the penis, a completely physiological and normal condition in babies, since the foreskin and glans are attached from birth.
Over the years, these adhesions disappear and the skin can go down more and more. When this does not happen (at four or five years), or complications arise (pain, inflammation, infection), many doctors recommend circumcision or postectomy, a surgery to correct phimosis that consists of a cut in the skin of the foreskin to release the glans.
When the reasons are not medical
Many doctors argue that circumcision is a beneficial practice that reduces the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases and genital infections, and of course they are against the circumcision being compared with genital mutilation in girls, a practice that is detrimental to their health and incapacitating for their future sexual relations.
But of course we talk about a medical condition, in which the child is operated by a trained professional to perform this intervention. This is not the point of Iceland's proposal, which focuses on circumcision of young children for reasons that are not medical, a practice carried out no medical supervision which exposes children to "severe pain" and a high risk of infections. It is not uncommon to find kits to make circumcisions at home with the corresponding surgical material next to a practice model of a child's genitals.
Those who support prohibiting circumcision argue that the rights of the child must always be above the right of the parents to the religious orientation of their children.Instead, the Icelandic law proposal proposes that at age 15, the age of sexual consent in Iceland, the children decide for themselves if they want to practice it or not.
Jews and Muslims, against
Circumcision is a widespread practice. for religious reasons in the Jewish and Muslim communities. Berit Milá (or "the covenant of circumcision") is the ritual circumcision practiced by the Jewish man on the eighth day after birth, as a symbol of the covenant between God and Abraham. The rite is performed by a circumciser with both surgical and religious knowledge, which is called "mohel".
The president of the European Jewish Congress bluntly showed his opposition to the project, and said that if the law is passed, it will prevent his brothers from settling in Iceland.
"We can only assume that this attempt to ban a core practice of Jewish communities stems from ignorance about the practice and its effect on Jewish children, rather than sending a message that Jews are no longer welcome in Iceland."
For its part, among Muslims, it is normal for men to be circumcised before they get married, and it is a practice that is most often practiced during childhood. Also the Islamic Cultural Center is against the bill considering that contravenes religious freedom:
"Circumcision has been practiced for centuries, it is deeply rooted in cultural and religious traditions"
They also indicate that if prohibited by law, circumcision will not cease to be performed, but that will go underground or they will move to practice it in countries where it is allowed.
What do you think is circumcision prohibited by law, a measure that could be extended in the future to the rest of Europe?
