Mass Circumcision Campaigns in Sub-Saharan Africa:A Disaster in Disguise?

• Author: Ashley N. Arrington - Book Review
• Position: Cook Collection Attorneys, PLC
• Pages: 779-797

e Indonesian Journal of International & Comparative Law

ISSN: 2338-7602; E-ISSN: 2338-770X

http://www.ijil.org

© 2016 e Institute for Migrant Rights Press

mass CirCumCision CamPaigns in

suB-saharan afriCa

A D  D

Ashley N. Arrington

Attorney at Law

E-mail: ashley.arrington@aggienetwork.com

e World Health Organization and UNAIDS began endorsing male circum-

cision as an eective strategy for HIV prevention in countries with a high HIV

prevalence and a low male circumcision prevalence in 2007. Four years later,

such organizations, along with a host of U.S. and Western NGOs, went on to

further promote the scale-up of male circumcision for HIV prevention in East-

ern and Southern Africa. In the years since the implementation of the resulting

mass circumcision campaigns, numerous countries, including Botswana, Kenya,

Malawi, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and more, have specically complained that such

campaigns operate to promote increased risky sexual behaviors and thus do not

reduce HIV as claimed. In response to such complaints, this paper will seek to

assess the outcomes of mass circumcision campaigns and to examine whether

such campaigns are an eective and acceptable method of attacking the HIV

pandemic sub-Saharan Africa currently faces. Additionally, through evaluating

HIV-related human rights principles and the state obligations thereunder, this

paper seeks to determine whether the mass circumcision campaigns promoted

by the U.S. and other Western NGOs constitute a violation of human rights.

Keywords: human right to health, international law, women rights, religious freedom,

cultural relativism, reproductive health.

III Indonesian Journal of International & Comparative Law 779-97 (October 2016)

780

Arrington

I. INTRODUCTION

In 2007, the WHO and UNAIDS issued a joint statement endorsing

male circumcision as an eective strategy for HIV prevention in coun-

tries with a high HIV prevalence and a low male circumcision preva-

lence, and in 2011, such organizations, along with a host of others, went

on to release a “Joint Strategic Action Framework to Accelerate the

Scale-Up of Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention

in Eastern and Southern Africa,” citing an estimated commitment of

$1.5 billion for the years 2012-2015. Nonetheless, in the years since

the implementation of the resulting mass circumcision campaigns, nu-

merous countries, including Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Zim-

babwe, and more, have specically (and many times repeatedly) com-

plained that such campaigns eectively operate to promote increased

risky sexual behaviors and thus do not reduce HIV as claimed.

In response to such complaints, this paper will seek to assess the

outcomes of mass circumcision campaigns and to examine whether

such campaigns are an eective and acceptable method of attacking the

HIV pandemic sub-Saharan Africa currently faces. Additionally, this

paper seeks to determine whether the mass circumcision campaigns

promoted by the U.S. and other Western NGOs constitute a violation

of human rights.

To accomplish the aforementioned objectives, this paper will

rst provide a brief history of male circumcision as a method of HIV

prevention. Using a series of recent articles, it will then provide a

synopsis of the current problem with mass circumcision campaigns.

Next, this paper will evaluate the relationship between human rights

and HIV/AIDS, list the international human rights instruments

and documents applicable to HIV/AIDS, and summarize the HIV-

related state obligations applicable to an analysis of mass circumcision

campaigns. Finally, through applying HIV-related human rights

principles and the state obligations thereunder, the paper will analyze

whether and how mass circumcision campaigns violate human rights.