25 signatures reached
To: Secretary of State for Health The Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP
Genital Integrity for All Children
End all forms of non-medical genital cutting for all children.
Why is this important?
The harms of female genital mutilation in all of its forms are well known, and the practice is rightly legally condemned. It is accepted that children have fundamental rights to bodily integrity and self-determination that cannot be outweighed by the wishes of a parent to follow religious or cultural practices. Cutting a child's genitals is a serious affront to these rights, and it can cause irreversible physical and psychological harm.
However, in law and public policy this obvious conclusion is only applied to female children, when it is both boys and girls who are at risk from genital cutting. It is our opinion that all children have this same right to bodily integrity, and that this should be reflected in the law.
Opponents have claimed that infant circumcision is harmless and has no long-term consequences. However, evidence from the experience of adults circumcised as children, from scientific investigation, and from the statistics of boys who are left with serious physical side effects or who even die as a result of these procedures attests to the physical and psychological harm that it can cause.
Genital cutting can affect all children, and can harm all children. It is well past time to make it a thing of the past.
