Attorneys For The Rights Of The Child

Attorneys for the Rights of the Child (ARC) Accomplishments

United Nations Project
We gave oral and written presentations putting the issue of male genital mutilation on the United Nations record for the first time.

Unofficially Winning Circumcision Debate with AAP Task Force Member
The Twentieth Pitts Lectureship in Medical Ethics, held on October 18-19, 2013, marked a debate regarding the ethics of male circumcision in which Steven Svoboda unofficially defeated Michael Brady, M.D., a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Task Force on Circumcision…

Publishing over Forty-five Peer-reviewed Papers
Authoring or co-authoring and publishing over forty-five peer reviewed papers, many in top journals (for example, three in the world’s top medical ethics journal, the Journal of Medical Ethics). Our most recent paper was published in June 2025 in the Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights and Social Justice and surveys in detail the differential treatment of male genital cutting and female genital cutting including by the same federal judge in front of whom Steven co-litigated a circumcision case in 2003.

Completing United Nations Core Report
The core report is intended for use and adaptation by local activists in countries around the world wishing to submit a report to the UN on male circumcision as a human rights violation in their respective countries. We have already been working with local activists in Iceland and the Philippines.

Researching, Identifying, Commissioning Translations of, and Publishing European Legal Cases and Law Review Articles
Forty legal cases and law review articles that ARC found and translated, heretofore unknown to the activist community, are already being used by scholars in the community as integral components of some of the papers they are writing…

ARC Newsletter
Publishing forty-one (as of Winter 2024) issues of our newsletter, containing feature articles by activists, reports on recent conferences, book reviews, news reports, photographs, and other important updates.

United Nations Third Party Intervention
Following the sad and unexpected passing of Australian human rights attorney Paul Mason, Steven Svoboda took over from Paul to lead preparation and submission of a “third party intervention” submitted by the International NGO Council on Genital Autonomy (INGOCGA) to the United Nations’ Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Participating in Approximately 200 Audio and Video Presentations
We have appeared in over 200 media events relating to genital autonomy, including public talks, debates, conference presentations, television and radio appearances, podcasts, magazine interviews, newspaper interviews, and Op-Ed pieces. We have been in Men’s Health, the Harvard Law Bulletin, on Penn and Teller’s Bullshit!, in the Red Pill movie, and on “SexTV.”

Discovering Sex Discrimination Against Males by United Nations
We uncovered, through research at the United Nations, that the Committee on the Rights of the Child violated its own procedures in removing, without any discussion or debate, “boy children” from the purview of the Special Rapporteur on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and the Girl Child (formerly “Women and Children”).

Legal Victories
Compiling and publishing the most comprehensive and updated list of legal settlements and legal decisions relating to male genital integrity.

Medical and Ethical Positions on Circumcision
Compiling and publishing the most comprehensive and updated list of worldwide position statements regarding medical and ethical aspects of male circumcision.

Compilation of Audio and Video Relating to Genital Autonomy
Right now we are in the process of posting to our website an estimated 1,500 items relating to genital autonomy, including approximately 200 of our audio and video presentations.

Circumcision – Your Legal Rights
Producing a video with attorney and original ARC board member David Llewellyn about a litigant’s rights.

“Know Your Rights” Brochure
Preparing and publishing a brochure outlining litigants’ rights.

Book Reviews
Reviewing several dozen books in the genital autonomy literature, and publishing these reviews in our newsletter.

Letters Submitted to Physicians’ Professional Organizations
In April 2003, ARC collaborated with Doctors Opposing Circumcision (DOC) and the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers (NOCIRC) to mail out thousands of letters to North American pediatricians. The letters were titled, “A Caution to Medical Doctors Regarding Child Circumcision” and were jointly signed by ARC, DOC, and NOCIRC.

Medicaid Project Leads to Medicaid Funding of Circumcision Being Stopped in Fifteen States
ARC has worked diligently since the late nineties to end Medicaid funding for circumcision. We sent countless letters and made innumerable phone calls to state Medicaid offices around the United States. On behalf of ARC, Steven was the main author of a white paper on the Medicaid Project. For many years we worked closely on this issue with the International Coalition for Genital Integrity (ICGI)…

ARC Received the Human Rights Award from NOCIRC in 2002.