Limits of Enlightenment and the Law - On the Legality of Ritual Male Circumcision in Europe today

• Author: Mark Swatek-Evenstein
• Position: Ph.D. in law from the University of Bonn. He is a criminal defense lawyer in Berlin, Germany and a certified specialist for criminal law (Fachanwalt für Strafrecht)
• Pages: 42-50

Limits of Enlightenment and the Law - On the Legality of Ritual

Male Circumcision in Europe today

Mark Swatek-Evenstein

Merkourios 2013 – Volume 29/Issue 77, Article, pp. 42-50.

URN:NBN:NL:UI:10-1-112872

ISSN: 0927-460X

URL: www.merkourios.org

Publisher: Igitur Publishing

Copyright: this work has been licensed by the Creative Commons Attribution License (3.0)

Keywords

Circumcision, Human Rights Law, Criminal Law, Legal History, Germany

Abstract

e legality of ritual circumcision of male infants is a subject not regularly discussed under European or international Human

Rights Law, let alone national law. In Germany, this changed dramatically in 2012, when a regional court declared ritual

circumcision of a male infant illegal, even if performed at the parents’ request and according to current medical standards.

After a erce public discussion, the German parliament voted towards the end of the year in favour of a bill that explicitly

permits male infant circumcision. e discussion on whether this new law is in line with European human rights law and

international law is expected to continue.

is paper takes no position on whether infant male circumcision should be legal and takes no position on the medical

questions attached to the subject. It argues for the legality of infant male circumcision in Western democracies like Germany

for historic reasons: Jewish emancipation in the 18th and 19th century throughout Europe meant an incorporation of

Jewish laws and customs into the legal fabric of European countries. Taking into account the relatively wide acceptance of

the practice of infant male circumcision in communities worldwide, the paper suggests that arguments from international

human rights law make simple equations dicult to sustain. Gender and children’s rights-based approaches may be utilized

to develop a deeper sensibility for the issues related to circumcision, but must not obscure the fact that minority rights

sometimes rightfully allow a minority to do things the majority does not understand.

Author Aliations

Mark Swatek-Evenstein holds a Ph.D. in law from the University of Bonn. He is a criminal defense lawyer in Berlin,

Germany and a certied specialist for criminal law (Fachanwalt für Strafrecht).

Article

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Merkourios - Gender in European and International Law - Vol. 29/77