Following the sad and unexpected passing of Australian human rights attorney Paul Mason, Steven Svoboda took over from Paul to lead preparation and submission of the “third party intervention” by the International NGO Council on Genital Autonomy (INGOCGA) to the United Nations’ Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). A “third party intervention” is a relatively novel procedure, roughly akin to a “friend of the court” brief in US law, in which the CRC invited INGOCGA, as a non-government organization, to advise it regarding the anatomical, medical, human rights, legal, and ethical implications of male circumcision.
The CRC asked us to submit the attached third party intervention to help it evaluate a 2016 Finnish Supreme Court circumcision prosecution that found the doctor and father liable for a circumcision of a four-month-old boy. Other prominent members of the INGOCGA team include Antony Lempert of the UK’s Secular Medical Forum, Kira Antinuk of Canada’s Children’s Health & Human Rights Partnership (CHHRP), and James Chegwidden of the UK.
Download:
INGOCGA Third Party Intervention As Submitted to CRC 12-31-18