ARC executive director Steven Svoboda presented at the “Myths and Multiple Standards” conference in Frankfurt, Germany on May 8, 2015. The title of his well-received talk was “The rights of the child versus the rights of the parent?” The conference was recorded on video and will be made available at a later date.
This was our first ever conference in Germany where the Cologne cases (intersex in 2009 and MGC in 2012) were decided. Lots of meetings took place surrounding the conference. A rally in Cologne was very successful and had a great turnout.
Here is the abstract of Svoboda’s talk:
Contrary to popular belief, it has never been the law that parents have the right to impose their will on children regardless of the child’s best interests. Instead, parents have an obligation to promote their children’s rights as well as to preserve the children’s future options, whether the particular issue at hand be genital autonomy or any other aspect of child rearing. Numerous principles of medical ethics, legal cases, human rights agreements, and declarations by medical and political bodies confirm the primacy of protecting those who are too vulnerable to protect themselves. A new consciousness is dawning as we become more aware of our obligation to safeguard all beings, especially those who are most vulnerable, and as we further concretize this awareness.
Here is the website for the conference:
http://www.genitalautonomy.org/2015/02/11/myths-and-multiple-standards-2/
Here is a press release about the conference:
http://intaktiv.de/pr-genital-autonomy-2015/