Interview of Nurses for the Rights of the Child by Sami Aldeeb, Doctor of Law, Swiss Institute of Comparative Law, Lausanne, Switzerland. January 1977

As you may know, I am now preparing a book in Arabic about male and female circumcision. I decided to present "Nurses for the Rights of the Child" to the Arab Readers. Instead of writing about "Nurses for the Rights of the Child", I sent 13 questions to Mary Conant, R.N. and Betty Katz Sperlich, R.N., founding members of "Nurses for the Rights of the Child", asking them to answer them. I will translate the questions and answers in my book.

As the questions and the answers of Nurses for the Rights of the Child may interest you, I share them with you:

[excerpts]:

* Do you publish? If yes, please give the most important titles.

We publish a Handbook for R.N. Conscientious Objectors to Infant Circumcision . A video by Barry Ellsworth is also available: The Nurses of St. Vincent: Saying No to Circumcision.. ( Six nurses tell what they saw in the circumcision room that led them to take their historic stand.)

*Are you fighting against male and female circumcision or only against one of them? If you fight against one of them, which one? Why do you neglect the other one?

We seek to protect the rights of all infants and children to bodily integrity. Our position statement is gender-neutral. We inform the public about both female and male genital mutilation and speak out against all forms of genital mutilation of children. However, in our work we focus primarily on the circumcision of infant males, because the overwhelming majority of circumcisions perform in our country are performed on infant males. Indeed, it was our history of participating in the mutilation of infant males that led to our awareness of the issues of genital mutilation.

*Do you agree that persons or groups who do not practice male and/or female circumcision may fight against these practices? For example, do you accept that Whites fight against male and/or female circumcision practiced by Blacks, Christians fight against male and/or female circumcision practiced by Muslims or Jews? If yes, why? If no, why?

We encourage women and men of all cultures, religions and races to protect all infants and children, without bias as to culture, religion, gender or race. As a practical matter, however, it may be easier, for example, for some Jews to hear what other Jewish persons have to say on the issues of circumcision, rather than to hear it from a non-Jew.

* Do you accept religious male and/or female circumcision on children? on consenting adults? Whatever be the religion: Islam, Judaism, Animism?

* Do you accept cultural male and/or female circumcision on children? on consenting adults? Whatever be the culture: Western or non-Western culture?

*Do you accept that (non-medical) male and/or female circumcision consenting adults (indicate the age)? Physicians cannot cut the healthy finger or ear of a consenting adult. Do you consider this should be also the case for male and/or female circumcision?

Answers: We do not accept surgery on the healthy genitals of unconsenting infants or children for whatever reason. If a consenting adult, of sound mind and having full information, wants his or her body mutilated, we have no objection. However, perhaps physician's associations should consider if it would be ethical for physicians to perform mutilating operations, since such operations contradict the Hippocratic oath: First do no harm".

* Do you accept that the law forbids and punishes (non-medical) male and/or female circumcision? even if (non-medical) male and/or female circumcision are practiced for religious or cultural reasons? even if the victim is adult? What kind of punishment do you recommend? Against the parents of the child? Against the adult circumcised? Against the physician?

Our focus has been on consciousness-raising and protecting children, rather than on punishment. We believe that people's consciousness needs to be raised first, then laws will follow. However, if laws are enacted which forbid and punish circumcision, we believe that the punishment should focus on the perpetrators,namely those who wield the knife.

*Do you consider that parents can consent for their children in the practice of (non-medical) male and/or female circumcision? If yes, until which age?

No one has the right to violate a child's body, not even the parents.

* Some groups consider the fighting against male and/or female circumcision as imperialistic, anti-semitic, anti-islamic, anti-black attitude. Do you worry about that accusation? What would be your answer to such accusations? Have you ever been accused? by whom?

Our belief is that many mutilating customs are fear-based. In our experience, it is generally best to use tact and sensitivity when dealing with people's fears. The greater our understanding of these fears, the more successful we will be in our consciousness-raising work. We anticipate backlash, but we try not to worry too much about it. Yes, indeed, we have been accused of all kinds of things, such as being paternalistic, over-stepping our boundaries, trying to be doctors, misleading the public, harassing and badgering parents and making mothers feel bad. Most of these accusations against us have come from circumcisers who feel threatened by us. We have viewed these accusations as learning experiences. On occasion, we have been accused of anti-Semitism, even by non-Jews. Our response has been that it would be anti-Semitic of us if we didn't defend Jewish babies along with other children. We respect what is beautiful in every religion or culture and speak out against what is brutal. All cultures and religions are capable of evolving.