Dear Mr Dobson,
I am writing to you today to remind you that on Human Rights Day 21st of March an unknown number of British baby boys and male children will have their normal healthy genitals cut without their informed consent, forever altering and potentially diminishing their lives.
The anachronistic practice of male circumcision breaches the human rights of males in several respects.
Article 2 – Right to Life
Recently baby Goodluck Caubergs bled to death after a negligently performed circumcision. The nurse who circumcised him was not tried on human rights grounds but was found guilty of Goodluck’s manslaughter following a wholly unnecessary operation.
Article 3 – Prohibition of Torture
There is good evidence that stress hormone levels in children being circumcised reach levels equal to the levels seen in victims of torture.
Article 8 – Right to Respect for Private and Family Life
It is difficult to see how a practice that casually discards a section of a boy’s private parts without his consent and without a medical imperative can be respectful of that boy’s private life.
Article 9 – Freedom of Thought Conscience and Religion
This right is a qualified right in that one person’s right cannot be used to override another person’s right to freedom of religion; an adult may not override a child’s right, no matter that they are that child’s parent. What if the child being circumcised chooses, when they are capable, a religion such as Sikhism? A central tenet of Sikhs is the perfection of the body that God made.
Please take note of Human Rights Day and let us try to make the world and this country in particular a safer place for children to grow up in. As the Member of Parliament for Holborn and St Pancras I expect that you consider it your obligation to represent the rights of all constituents including those not yet able to vote nor indeed able to give their consent to genital modification.
Yours sincerely
Richard Duncker