Denmark

[circharmsurvey]

Dear Colleagues,

David Balashinsky has just had a wonderful 'Open Letter' to the Danish Prime Minister published at POV.International about an upcoming vote in the Danish Parliament about imposing an 18 year age limit on involuntary circumcision.

His excellent letter in support of the legislation and published in Danish is written from the perspective of a proud Jewish American as he explains that Jewish opinion on  circumcision is not monolithically in support of it; he puts forth arguments why involuntary genital cutting is antithetical to Judaism and Jewish ethics; and he cites the historic and present day growth of Jewish support for respecting the bodily integrity of boys, girls and intersex children.

Not surprisingly, the governments of the U.S. and Israel, in the name of "religious freedom" and in blatant disregard for children's rights, have been exerting pressure on Danish government officials to reject the law. This amounts to outside political interference into Denmark's ability to carry out its treaty obligations under the 1989 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRoC) to protect ALL of its children, regardless of sex or gender, from "harmful traditional practices" indicated in the Convention. Note: The U.S. remains the only nation in the world that has still not ratified the UNCRoC!

You can view the original version in Danish here.

You can view David's blog post containing the text of the letter here.

For those who want to download the English translation of the POV article, complete with photos and active hyperlinks, I reproduced it in PDF format and it's available for download here.

In unity for the children,

Tim

[Simon ten Kate]

This is POV. international's  Facebook post sharing the article with 720 comments https://www.facebook.com/pointofviewinternational/posts/3644675762322260