It was a great pleasure to see old and new friends in Cologne for The Worldwide Day of Genital Autonomy last Saturday. This years march went from the Courthouse on the 10th anniversary of the Cologne ruling.
This ruling identified that under German law, circumcision had no legislation to allow non-medical intervention.
This ruling identified that laws governing bodily harm, wounding, and the right to self-determination technically applied to circumcision, and had been ignored without any legal basis. It was, however, ‘presumed legal’ (as it still is in the UK and many other countries), though no legislation actually existed to permit circumcision.
Rather than prompting lawmakers to consider that this is contrary to the rights of the child, instead, the Cologne ruling lead to the introduction of permissive legislation – validating the legal interpretation of the Cologne court.
We march each year as a reminder to the lawmakers as to the important message behind the Cologne ruling – that self-determination and individual consent ought to outweigh irreversible unnecessary surgeries until the individual receiving this is of mature age and sound mind to decide for themselves.
The approach in Cologne is always peaceful and aims to educate and raise awareness rather than to blame or disrupt. Each year it brings together some great friends, allies and guests.
David Smith, our Chief Officer attended again this year and gave a speech in the city centre. You can watch this below:
This was David’s first time meeting some attendees in person, though many of them were familiar faces from online Zoom calls. It was great to see some members of 15 Square attend too, as well as meeting some old friends from across Europe.
I can testify that he has come back beaming and refreshed from a friendly weekend with some very dedicated allies. A special mention goes out to Victor, Werner & the rest of the MOGIS team for organising The Worldwide Day Of Genital Autonomy. With such a small team administrating the recordings, live streams, electronics equipment, and even the hotel accommodation it was amazing to see everything running so smoothly.
Finally, special thanks from David goes to Tayfun for hosting a great networking event and BBQ!
I hope that next year, more of the 15 Square team will be able to attend.
We were all with you in spirit!
– Jason, David & the 15 Square team
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