Educating the United Nations about Circumcision

Abstract

In August 2001, NOCIRC submitted an oral address and a written “intervention” to the United Nations’ Sub-Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, which became part of the official UN record. We provide the text of our written intervention. At this point in time, the Sub-Commission is the most favorable forum in which to seek UN recognition of male genital cutting (MGC) as a human rights violation. The UN and the Sub-Commission are to be congratulated for their progress in acknowledging the importance of MGC. Further work remains to expand on the UN’s and the Sub-Commission’s statements that (1) at least, under certain circumstances, MGC can constitute a human rights violation; and (2) anti-male sex discrimination violates human rights. Analysis of reports regarding MGC is provided by the Sub-Commission’s Special Rapporteur on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and the Girl Child. We review the Sub-Commission’s 1998 excision of male children from the Special Rapporteur’s mandate, in apparent violation of both its own procedures and leading human rights documents.