"Compulsory circumcision is wrong – that includes boys!" With this decisive statement, the Giordano Bruno Stiftung's children's rights campaign started today, one day before the public meeting of the German Ethics Council. "The purpose of the campaign is to prevent the planned legalization of medically unnecessary foreskin circumcisions," explains foundation spokesman Michael Schmidt-Salomon. "Compulsory circumcision is not a trivial matter, as claimed frequently, but an unjustifiable violation of the right to self-determination and the physical integrity of the child."

On the website www.pro-kinderrechte.de, which has been activated today, the "Arbeitskreis Kinderrechte" (Children's Rights Working Group), which was set up by the foundation and which includes criminal lawyer Holm Putzke, lists numerous medical, psychological, political and legal arguments that support this assessment. Tragically, according to the experts of the "AK Kinderrechte", there is little knowledge in society about the actual consequences of foreskin circumcision, which is very much comparable to 'milder' forms of female genital circumcision. For example, many parents do not know that infants suffer particularly severe pain during circumcision because the pain-suppressing system does not become functional until months after birth. If children go into a traumatic state of shock because of the unfiltered pain, parents actually misinterpret the sudden rest as a sign of the supposed harmlessness of circumcision.

In the opinion of the "AK Kinderrechte", the "main problem of the current debate" lies in the "lack of clarification or targeted disinformation of parents": "If parents knew about the dramatic consequences of circumcision, they would no longer need to discuss a circumcision ban, since most mothers and fathers would reject the idea of having their children circumcised.

In order to exercise pressure on German politics in the interests of children's rights, the Giordano Bruno Stiftung has developed a poster campaign hoping for the broadest possible support from the population. The website www.pro-kinderrechte.de states:

"With each euro you donate to the campaign, we can rent more billboards and thus increase public awareness of our cause. Only a vehement protest from the population will prevent the desired legalization of circumcision. Let us unmistakably make it clear to those responsible in politics and judiciary that compulsory circumcision is wrong – and that includes boys!".

Campaign website:

http://www.pro-kinderrechte.de

Support page on helpedia:

http://www.helpedia.de/spenden-aktionen/pro-kinderrechte

Questions and answers on boy circumcision:

http://pro-kinderrechte.de/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/faq_circumcision.pdf