Abstract
This chapter considers recent socio-legal developments with regard to circumcisions performed for religious and cultural reasons [‘ritual male circumcision’ (RMC)], driven by evolving understandings of children’s interests and well-being and parental rights or care. The chapter notes a convergence in approach based on international law and case studies of England, Germany and The Netherlands that focuses on medicalisation, parental consent and strict boundaries stated by civil and criminal law. National courts play an important role in this regard, as international bodies, governments, and higher courts are seeking to avoid having to pronounce themselves on the justifiability of RMC. It is argued that such avoidance is undesirable, and a wider societal discussion should be had that looks at matters including children’s physical and psychological well-being and concepts of autonomy (each discussed in this chapter). Prospects for such a debate are nonetheless undermined by hypocrisy on the part of those who wish to ban RMC but not other non-therapeutic interventions on children’s healthy bodies, and rising xenophobia, which undercuts the mutual respect required for a genuine reconsideration of RMC.
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Notes
- 1.
Note that the views and reports of Special Rapporteurs are non-binding.
- 2.
Case of Jehovah’s Witnesses of Moscow and others v. Russia, European Court of Human Rights, application 302/02, with judgment of 10 June 2010 § 144.
- 3.
The 2016 case is not publicly available but mentioned in CmRC (2020); S.A. v Turkey, European Court of Human Rights, application 62299/09, with judgment of 16 January 2018.
- 4.
R v M(B) [2018] EWCA Crim 560 at [39].
- 5.
Re B (Children) (Care Proceedings) [2015] EWFC 3.
- 6.
However, the courts have expressed a preference for circumcisions to be performed in a medical context. See AT v FS & Anor 2011 WL 5105519.
- 7.
Though this is equally contested; Dalton, for example, argues that “To be brutally frank, infant circumcision is ‘safer’ because infants do not report complications” (Barkham, 2012).
- 8.
Circumcisions are not normally covered by the National Health Service [although medical indications can be given for minor problems that would not otherwise require intervention (Dalton, 2008)], which causes a push out of the professional health circuit. The value of health practitioners performing RMCs in the community to prevent recourse to “untrained and non-expert individuals” has been recognised by the courts: General Medical Council v Chaudhary [2017] EWCA 2561 (Admin).
- 9.
See, e.g. Siddique v General Medical Council [2015] EWHC 1996 (Admin); General Medical Council v Chaudhary [2017] EWCA 2561 (Admin); Lowbridge (2019).
- 10.
Re J [1999] 2 F.L.R. 678; Re B (Children) (Care Proceedings) [2015] EWFC 3.
- 11.
Re B (Children) (Care Proceedings) [2015] EWFC 3.
- 12.
By contrast, sibling unity has been rejected as a valid reason: F v M, A, B (Children by their guardian) [2016] EWFC 40.
- 13.
S (Children) [2004] EWCACiv 1257, per Thorpe LJ, at 6. Confirmed on Appeal S (Children) [2004] EWCACiv 1257. See also Re J [1999] 2 F.L.R. 678; M v F [2021] EWHC 1616 (Fam).
- 14.
See M v F [2021] EWHC 1616 (Fam).
- 15.
The independent Netherlands arose in part as a reaction of the Protestant provinces to Catholic Spain, which governed The Netherlands and persecuted religious dissent (Blockmans et al., 2018).
- 16.
For example, based on article 23 of the Constitution, religious schools are financed/subsidised by the State.
- 17.
Conclusie Advocaat-Generaal, 04 November 2014, Parket bij de Hoge Raad, zaak 13/00654, ECLI:NL:PHR:2014:2255.
- 18.
See also 26 January 2018, Regionaal Tuchtcollege voor de Gezondheidszorg, zaak 161/2017, ECLI:NL:RTGZRZWO:2018:31 for reprimand of a registered doctor who had performed RMCs in unhygienic conditions in an asylum seeker centre.
- 19.
Articles 447(1), 450(2) and 465(1) Wet op de Geneeskundige Behandelingsovereenkomst (Medical Treatment Agreement Act).
- 20.
31 Juli 2007, Rechtbank Zutphen, zaak 83927 JE RK 07-110, LJN BB0833.
- 21.
26 November 2002, Gerechtshof’s-Hertogenbosch, zaak R200200450, LJN: AF2955 §4.4.
- 22.
21 September 2016, Rechtbank Rotterdam, zaak C/10/495177/HA ZA 16-165, ECLI:NL:RBROT:2016:7437.
- 23.
Ibid. See also 07 November 2018, Rechtbank Midden-Nederland, zaak C/16/453302/HA RK 18-18, ECLI:NL:RBMNE:2018:5461 on damages for a botched circumcision.
- 24.
For a discussion see 21 September 2016, Rechtbank Rotterdam, zaak C/10/495177/HA ZA 16-165, ECLI:NL:RBROT:2016:7437.
- 25.
09 December 2014, Hoge Raad, zaak 13/00654, ECLI:NL:HR:2014:3538.
- 26.
23 Mei 2007, Raad van State, Afdeling Bestuursrechtspraak, zaak 200701063/1, LJNBA6061.
- 27.
Dr. K. Landgericht Köln, 07.05.2012, Wa. 151 Ns 169/11.
- 28.
Gesetz über den Umfang der Personensorge bei einder Beschneidung des männlichen Kindes vom 20. Dezember 2012. Bundesgesetzblatt Jahrgang 2012 Teil I Nr. 61, Bonn 27. Dezember 2012, p. 2749.
- 29.
OVG Nordrhein-Westfalen, 10.12.2018, 13 B 576/18.
- 30.
OLG Frankfurt 4. Zivilsenat, 21.08.2007, 4W 12/07.
- 31.
Ibid, in particular at [19].
- 32.
OLG Hamm, 30.08.2013, 3 UF 133/13. See also BundesverfassungsGericht, 13.02.2013, 1 BvQ 2/13.
- 33.
Decision of 23 May 2013, cited in OLG Hamm, 30.08.2013, 3 UF 133/13.
- 34.
OGL Frankfurt am Main, 16.07.2019, 8 U 228/7.
- 35.
M v F [2021] EWHC 1616 (Fam), at [31].
- 36.
Notably, the CmRC (2016) has issued a General Comment that made parental rights accessory (and subject) to the child’s own exercise of their personal right, ending a longstanding debate in favour of children’s own choices and practices. The Committee has long been critical of imposed practice upon children (Erlings, 2020).
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Erlings, E.I.J. (2022). Ritual Male Circumcision: Quo Vadis?. In: Deb, S. (eds) Child Safety, Welfare and Well-being. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-9820-0_8
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