Iceland is poised to become the first European nation to outlaw male circumcision amid signs that the ritual common to Judaism and Islam might be a new battleground over religious freedom.
A bill before the Icelandic parliament proposes a penalty of up to six years in prison for anyone carrying out a circumcision other than for medical reasons.
Critics say the move, which has sparked alarm among religious leaders across Europe, would make life for Jews and Muslims in Iceland unsustainable.
One in three men globally is thought to be circumcised, the vast majority for religious or cultural reasons. Many Jews and Muslims fear the issue of circumcision could become a proxy for anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, pointing to similar tensions over religious dress and the ritual slaughter of animals for meat.
Muslim and Jewish leaders attacked the proposal, while Cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of the Catholic Church in the EU, said the bill was a “dangerous attack” on religious freedom.
“The criminalization of circumcision is a very grave measure that raises deep concern,” Marx said.
The Icelandic bill says the circumcision of young boys violates their rights and is incompatible with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It draws a parallel with female genital mutilation (FGM), already outlawed in most European nations.
The bill says circumcisions are performed without anesthesia and claims the procedure is often carried out “in homes that are not sterile, and not by doctors, but by religious leaders. There is a high risk of infections under such conditions that may lead to death.”
It acknowledges that while parents have the right to give religious guidance to their children, “such a right can never exceed the rights of the child.”
Boys who wish to be circumcised for religious or cultural reasons can do so when they reach an age at which they “understand what is involved in such an action,” it says.
Iceland’s population of about 336,000 includes tiny Jewish and Muslim communities. There are thought to be about 250 Jews and 1,500 Muslims.
Silja Dogg Gunnarsdottir of the Progressive party said she had proposed the bill after realizing that there was no ban on male circumcision although FGM has been outlawed in Iceland since 2005.
“If we have laws banning circumcision for girls, then we should do so for boys,” she said.
“We are talking about children’s rights, not about freedom of belief. Everyone has the right to believe in what they want, but the rights of children come above the right to belief,” she said.
The issue of circumcision has been raised in other European countries, but none has outlawed it.
According to Milah UK, a Jewish campaign group to protect the right to circumcision, the procedure is only carried out by highly trained and regulated practitioners, known as mohelim. Boys are usually circumcised at eight days old.
“Jewish male neonatal circumcision — known as brit milah — is a non-negotiable element of Jewish identity, common to Jews from all backgrounds and respected in liberal democratic countries. For a country such as Iceland, that considers itself a liberal democracy to ban it, thus making sustainable Jewish life in the country impossible, is extremely concerning,” a spokesperson for Milah UK said.
Ahmad Seddeeq, the imam of the Islamic Cultural Center of Iceland, said the bill contravened religious freedom.
“Circumcision has been practiced for centuries; it is deeply rooted in cultural and religious traditions,” he said.
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