The head of the Council of Europe, a pan-European intergovernmental body, Thorbjorn Jagland, has assured Israeli President Shimon Peres that Europe will not ban male circumcision despite last week’s vote by the Council’s parliamentary assembly of a resolution calling the religious ritual a ‘’violation of the physical integrity of children.’’
Jagland, a former Norwegian Prime Minister, reponded to a letter Peres had sent earlier yhis week in which the Israeli leader urged the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe to reconsider the resolution.
In his letter, Jagland assured that there is no binding law banning male circumcision in Europe for religious reasons.
“Nothing in the body of our legally binding standards would lead us to put on equal footing the issue of female genital mutilation and the circumcision of young boys for religious reasons,” he wrote.
“I understand the reaction of many people, specifically from the Jewish and Muslim communities, to the resolution,” he said.
The resolution adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) with 78 in favor and 13 against, was based on a report by a German Social Democrat MP Marlene Rupprecht ‘’which strongly recommends that states promote further awareness in their societies of the potential risks of some of these procedures for childrens’ physical and mental health,’’ listing the circumcision of boys, early childhood interventions in the case of intersexual children and the coercion of children into piercings, tattoos or plastic surgery.
It called on states ‘’to clearly define the medical, sanitary and other conditions to be ensured for practices such as the non-medically justified circumcision of young boys’’ and asked ‘’to adopt specific legal provisions to ensure that certain operations and practices will not be carried out before a child is old enough to be consulted.’’
Rupprecht rejected criticism of the resolution and said the Council of Europe's mandate ‘’is to promote the respect for human rights, including children's rights, on an equal footing with the fight against racism, antisemitism and xenophobia."
In his letter to Thorbjorn, President Peres said that male circumcision was a "fundamental element of our tradition and obligation as Jews". Jewish communities across Europe would be "greatly afflicted to see their cultural and religious freedom impeded", he added.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry also reacted to the vote of the resolution, calling it a "moral stain" on the Council, and adding that, "Any comparison of this tradition to the reprehensible and barbaric practice of female genital mutilation is either appalling ignorance, at best, or defamation and anti-religious hatred, at worst,'' it said.
The Council of Europe Secretary General responded that the Parliamentary Assembly is a consultative body that does not represent the positions of the Council as a whole.
He said male circumcision did not violate human rights and in a tweet he wrote: ‘’Female genital mutilation violates human rights. Male circumcision does not.”