Dutch MP wants ban on male circumcision

A Dutch Member of Parliament, Hirsi Ali, has told a Dutch television programme that the government should consider making the circumcision of boys an offence. The MP, who is often in the news for her controversial views on integration, says circumcision can have long-term damaging effects.

The operation, in which the foreskin of the penis is removed, is carried out on tens of thousands of Islamic and Jewish boys in the Netherlands each year for religious reasons. The Dutch government recently outlawed female circumcision.