[DEFEATED] Repeal GAR #141- Permit Male Circumcision

[Bodobol]

I'm here with a pretty rough draft for a repeal resolution. Improvements probably really needed, but it's a start.

Repeal GAR #141- 'Permit Male Circumcision'

Category: Repeal || Resolution: #141 || Proposed by: Bodobol

AFFIRMING the intent of General Assembly Resolution #141, 'Permit Male Circumcision', to allow the practice of circumcision within all World Assembly member-states,

HOWEVER CONCERNED with the apparent flaws in the resolution that infringe on a newborn's rights,

TROUBLED by the fact that this resolution allows circumcision, a painful and typically unnecessary medical procedure, to be legally performed on non-consenting newborns,

NOTING that, as of yet, there is still only inconclusive data regarding the potential health benefits of the procedure,

DISTURBED by the fact that under the provisions of GAR#141, member-states are granted the power to enforce any laws they wish regarding circumcision that don't ban the practice; including government-enforced circumcision,

REGRETTING that patients in some member-states with high circumcision complication rates may not be granted the power to make an informed medical decision regarding the process,

FURTHER REGRETTING that although circumcision is often practiced for religious purposes, a newborn is not of the mental capability to choose a religion, thereby infringing on the newborn's rights,

HEREBY REPEALS General Assembly Resolution #141.

Btw, if this ever reaches quorum I'll draft a replacement resolution which allows consenting, informed males above the age of majority to get circumcised.

[Lumeau]

We view circumcision of newborns as infringing upon the rights of children. Although it is currently legal in Lumeau due to GAR 141, we do not think it appropriate to allow parents to make such a decision about a helpless newborn's body, especially for religious reasons, since, as you stated in your repeal, the child does not have the mental capacity to choose a religion.

This has our enthusiastic support.

--The Executive-General of the Commonwealth of Lumeau

[Flibbleites]

I'd like to ask the author of this repeal why he cares so much about baby penises?

Bob Flibble
WA Representative

[Bodobol]

I'd like to ask the author of this repeal why he cares so much about baby penises?

Bob Flibble
WA Representative

Primarily because of the fact that circumcision, a painful, potentially risky procedure isn't necessarily just about the newborn's penis in some cultures, that it's more about a spiritual covenant and/or cultural tradition that the baby doesn't choose to partake in.

[Eireann Fae]

"You seem to want to repeal Resolution #141, but list #151 in the text of the repeal... In any case, we would of course support any repeal to that distasteful resolution. Mutilating babies' genitals is just wrong."

(OOC: Also, t'd be nice if you'd link to the extant resolution in the OP.)

[Bodobol]

"You seem to want to repeal Resolution #141, but list #151 in the text of the repeal... In any case, we would of course support any repeal to that distasteful resolution. Mutilating babies' genitals is just wrong."

(OOC: Also, t'd be nice if you'd link to the extant resolution in the OP.)

Typo, my bad. And I'll edit it so there's a link.

[Bears Armed]

"If it's that harmful to males, then why have some male-dominated cultures been willing to continue with it for centuries -- if not millennia -- without finding excuses to change that aspect of their customs?"


Artorrios o SouthWoods,
ChairBear, Bears Armed Mission at the World Assembly.

[Eireann Fae]

"Heya, ChairBear," Alex greets Artorrios with a smile. "People do a lot of things that are pretty bad for them. How many untold billions smoke cigarettes or drown their livers in alcohol? How many cultures still practice the death penalty and go to war? I don't know about you lot, but my race isn't known for making the best decisions ever... Anyway, even if snipping some skin doesn't cause cancer that doesn't make it right. The poor boys are being denied their bodily sovereignty, and as a fan of bodies, that doesn't sit right with me at all."

[Ikania]

We in Ikania firmly support this resolution and wish to see it pass. No government should have the right to mutilate one's genitals, especially those belonging to an infant.
- Ryan Derelin, Ikanian WA representative.

[Mousebumples]

For the record, it's Patients' Right Act that permits parents to make these decisions for their children. Unless you plan to replace this with a full-out ban on circumcision (and I don't know that that would pass, tbh, given the divisive nature of this subject), any replacement you pass will have to make the same allowances.

And if you plan to not replace this, if successfully repealed, how is that any different from the status quo?

[Bodobol]

For the record, it's Patients' Right Act that permits parents to make these decisions for their children. Unless you plan to replace this with a full-out ban on circumcision (and I don't know that that would pass, tbh, given the divisive nature of this subject), any replacement you pass will have to make the same allowances.

And if you plan to not replace this, if successfully repealed, how is that any different from the status quo?

Would it not be possible to pass an act that bans circumcision until the child reaches the age of majority except when medically necessary, or would that count as contradiction in regards to the Patients' Rights Act?

[Iquasia]

We in Iquasia support this resolution and will pass this information onto our WA delegate.

[The Two Jerseys]

1) Must we go through this shitstorm again?
2) This whole thing is making a mountain out of a molehill. If someone is circumcised as an newborn they're not even going to remember if it was painful, nor are they going to miss having a foreskin when they can't even remember what it was like to have one.

[Eireann Fae]

"Ambassador Ewing, by that logic, you should have no problem with chopping off babies' pinky fingers. They won't remember the pain when they get older, after all, nor would they know what it's like to have pinkies. Hell, why not take whole arms? People can learn to cope with one arm - or none. It'd be even easier for those that never learned to use their arms in the first place. What a ridiculous argument."

[Mosktopia]

"Ambassador Ewing, by that logic, you should have no problem with chopping off babies' pinky fingers. They won't remember the pain when they get older, after all, nor would they know what it's like to have pinkies. Hell, why not take whole arms? People can learn to cope with one arm - or none. It'd be even easier for those that never learned to use their arms in the first place. What a ridiculous argument."

While I understand the rhetorical point that the ambassador from Eireann Fae is making, I - for one - am not willing to compare circumcision with amputating an arm.

[Bodobol]

"Ambassador Ewing, by that logic, you should have no problem with chopping off babies' pinky fingers. They won't remember the pain when they get older, after all, nor would they know what it's like to have pinkies. Hell, why not take whole arms? People can learn to cope with one arm - or none. It'd be even easier for those that never learned to use their arms in the first place. What a ridiculous argument."

While I understand the rhetorical point that the ambassador from Eireann Fae is making, I - for one - am not willing to compare circumcision with amputating an arm.

Methinks the comparison with the pinky finger is still valid, but yeah, chopping off an arm is a bit too far.

[Alqania]

[Bodobol]

(Image)

I guess I'll make a draft later tonight instead of waiting for quorum.

[Alqania]

(Image)

I guess I'll make a draft later tonight instead of waiting for quorum.

"What I meant was that the Queendom does not consider a replacement necessary or desired", Lord Raekevik clarified. "We do not want any replacement. I apologise for the confusion."

[Bodobol]

I guess I'll make a draft later tonight instead of waiting for quorum.

"What I meant was that the Queendom does not consider a replacement necessary or desired", Lord Raekevik clarified. "We do not want any replacement. I apologise for the confusion."

Wouldn't it be appropriate to create a replacement that allows consenting adults to get circumcised but forbids the practice on nonconsenting newborns?

[Eireann Fae]

"Such a replacement would certainly have our support."

[Alqania]

"What I meant was that the Queendom does not consider a replacement necessary or desired", Lord Raekevik clarified. "We do not want any replacement. I apologise for the confusion."

Wouldn't it be appropriate to create a replacement that allows consenting adults to get circumcised but forbids the practice on nonconsenting newborns?

"Out of all the unimaginably many procedures a person may want done to their body, what is so special about circumcision that the right to have it ought to be enshrined in international law?" Lord Raekevik questioned. "And with regards to newborns, it seems short-sighted to have a special resolution for circumcision, why not take a broader approach to the question of cosmetic surgery on infants? Though whatever Your Excellency ends up proposing as a replacement might end up in problems with the Patient's Rights Act, as my distinguished Mousebumplian colleague has pointed out."

"With regret, I can also remind the chamber that an Alqanian initiative to increase the rights of child patients was met with disinterest and failed to reach quorum. The delegates were, at that time, not receptive to such a measure. There were also a number of prominent members of this chamber that challenged its legality, specifically vis-à-vis the PMC and PRA, and the Secretariat never deemed it necessary, apparently, to deign to issue any ruling or other statement on its legality, so that is a question left hanging. While, of course, by spamming all the delegates, one might get such a proposal to quorum, the cool reception that this delegation received during good old hands-on campaigning indicates to me that a forced quorate resolution would likely fail at vote. That said, if Your Excellency does decide to draft a replacement, I wish the delegation the best of luck."

[Imperializt Russia]

I'd like to ask the author of this repeal why he cares so much about baby penises?

Bob Flibble
WA Representative

Primarily because of the fact that circumcision, a painful, potentially risky procedure isn't necessarily just about the newborn's penis in some cultures, that it's more about a spiritual covenant and/or cultural tradition that the baby doesn't choose to partake in.

It can't choose.
It's a baby.

It can't even talk for another year, in humans.

Would you care to provide a medical entry on the pain of a circumcision procedure? A brief, relatively non-invasive procedure that the child will not even remember?

[Bodobol]

Primarily because of the fact that circumcision, a painful, potentially risky procedure isn't necessarily just about the newborn's penis in some cultures, that it's more about a spiritual covenant and/or cultural tradition that the baby doesn't choose to partake in.

It can't choose.
It's a baby.

It can't even talk for another year, in humans.

Would you care to provide a medical entry on the pain of a circumcision procedure? A brief, relatively non-invasive procedure that the child will not even remember?

Because (a)just because a painful event is not remembered does not mean it's okay dor it to happen in the first place, and (b)since in many cultures it is first and foremost a religious ritual before a medical procedure, and the newborn hasn't learned to think for itself, it is a form of indoctrination and is not okay. I wasn't saying the baby can't choose- I just don't think that little detail makes it okay for parents to decide to chop off a part of their son's foreskin.

[Dragonyza]

Dragonyza has legislated within the confines of GAR 141 to restrict circumcision to ages 16 and above unless medically necessary.

We support this resolution as we would like to tighten our legislation.