Does the WHO report advocate the circumcision of babies or adults/young adults?
Not that I know of. As I indicated in my initial response to Berational's opinion of the WHO report, the WHO report provides information for policy makers that parents can use as part of making an informed decision about whether to circumcise their infant son. The report looks at circumcision at different ages, states the advantages of circumcision of babies, looks at the various reasons for circumcision including HIV prevention and the report's conclusions are right there on Page 55 and 56, ending with:
"Neonatal and child circumcision is routinely practised in many countries for religious, cultural or medical reasons. The procedure is undertaken by a range of providers, with the choice of provider depending on family or religious tradition, cost, availability and perception
of service quality. As a traditional religious and cultural practice, circumcision is likely to continue to be highly prevalent around the world, and, in addition, is now being considered for HIV prevention. Every effort must be made to ensure that the procedure is undertaken as
safely as possible, by trained and experienced providers with adequate supplies and in hygienic conditions."
In that case there should be evidence that, say, affluent Jewish families would elect not to circumcise and allow their boys to decide for themselves at a later date: anecdotally at least my impression is that compliance with tradition is probably the main driver.
In certain parts of the Jewish community there is compliance with tradition and in other parts of the Jewish community there is no strict adherence to the tradition. Increasingly Jewish parents seem to feel they can dispense with some traditions, including the organisation set up in Israel to publicly oppose infant circumcision when done for purely religious or identity reasons.
