As if it weren't already bad that circumcision advocates were using questionable "research" to push "mass circumcision campaigns" in Africa under the supposed guise of "HIV prevention," apparently US-funded organizations are now simply taking the liberty of kidnapping children off the streets and circumcising them without their parents' approval.
According to this report, SSDI, a component of the Malawi Ministry of Health, has been simply picking up children off the street, coaxing them with candy, cookies and drinks, forcibly circumcising them without their parents' awareness, and dumping them near their homes, much to their parents' dismay upon discovery.
SSDI apparently receives support from USAID to promote and perform male circumcisions through a campaign known as the "Sankhani HIV Prevention Project."
In one particular case in Chipakuza Village, T/A Lundu in Chikhwawa, a 9-yo boy has lost his entire penis, and his angry father is seeking to sue the Malawi Ministry of Health for damages.
The lawsuit documents served to the Attorney General and Chikhwawa District Hospital, stressed the need for authorities to take this matter seriously, chiefly citing the fundamental right of the minor, which had been violated, and the fact that the parents' wishes were not disregarded.
Furthermore, the father has complained that the people involved forcefully circumcised his son against the values and customs of the Sena culture, his culture of origin.
Given that circumcision is elective, non-medical surgery with dubious "benefits" that are already afforded by less invasive, more effective means, given that it was forcibly performed on a healthy, non-consenting child, given that his fundamental rights were violated, and given that his parents were completely disregarded, the fact that this child has lost his penis is a disastrous tragedy in more ways than one.
This needs to be brought to the attention of the WHO and UNICEF; what has happened here is anything but "voluntary."
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Thank you for raising awareness by publicizing these atrocities.
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