The Council of Europe will not ban Jewish ritual circumcision of boys, Council Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland assured members of the Conference of European Rabbis. Jagland said Monday in Berlin that he wanted to make it “absolutely clear… that in no way does the Council of Europe want to ban the circumcision of boys. It…
Norway will promote new legislation to “regulate ritual circumcision,” the country’s health minister said. Minister Bent Hoie said the new legislation on non-medical circumcision of boys under 18 will be introduced before April 20, 2014, according to a report by the Norwegian daily Aftenposten. “We will review submissions on the matter before we can decide…
Responding to recent attacks in Europe on ritual circumcision, Jewish groups convened a special task force in Brussels to mount a “proactive defense” of the practice. “The days of waiting around to firefight individual attacks on brit milah are over,” said Philip Carmel, European policy adviser for the European Jewish Congress, in reference to the…
More than 5,000 people, including prominent French politicians, scholars and clergymen, have signed a petition against attempts to ban ritual circumcision of boys in Europe. Titled “no to a ban on circumcision,” the petition was published on Oct. 16 by CRIF, the umbrella organization representing France’s Jewish communities, following the Oct. 1 passing of a…
A resolution that calls male ritual circumcision a “violation of the physical integrity of children” was passed overwhelmingly by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The council, a pan-European intergovernmental organization, debated and passed the resolution on Tuesday based on a report by the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development led…
Amid calls to ban the ritual circumcision of boys in Scandinavia, the Council of Europe is slated to vote on whether to define the practice as a “clear human rights violation.” The definition is included in a report on circumcision and female genital mutilation that was submitted recently to a vote by the Parliamentary Assembly…
A bill introduced in the Swedish parliament would ban the non-medical circumcision of underage boys. Two lawmakers from the rightist Sweden Democrats party, noting that female genital mutilation is illegal in Sweden, submitted the bill to the Riksdag on Tuesday. Bjorn Soder and Per Ramhorn wrote in the measure that “boys should have the same…
A left-wing Danish political party is seeking to outlaw ritual circumcision in Denmark. The Social Liberal Party, a small coalition partner of Denmark’s ruling Social Democrats party, adopted the anti-circumcision stance this week following an internal vote by delegates during a party congress in Nyborg, 75 miles west of Copenhagen, according to the news site…
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