It was not enjoyable or funny. While some were being amputated, a few queued up watching the frightening spectacle. I wonder if the participation of the mothers in this barbaric practice does not leave an indelible scar in the hearts and brains of the babies as they are considered accomplices. Namibia ratified the UN Convention on the Right of the Child in September 1990. Those crying children could ask whether the painful procedure was not in contravention of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Namibia's Constitution.
Cultures encompass the ethos of values, beliefs, patterns of behaviour and social structures.
The right to practice culture is enshrined in our Constitution. This is subject to the terms of the Constitution and that protected rights by the Constitution are not impinged on. Good and painless cultures should be upheld and defended but painful, bad, obsolete and deforming cultures should be condemned, abandoned or reformed. Circumcision has been used as part of religious ritual and new excuses based on health and hygienic issue were propagated to substantiate the operation. It is worth noting that more than 84 percent of the world's male population is not circumcised.