Germans end castration of sex offenders

The C o u nc i l o f Eur o p e’s a n t i - t o r t u r e c o m m i t t e e has praised Germany for effectively ending the surg i c a l c a s t r a t i o n of s ome sex offenders – although t he l aw has not yet b een repealed.

The European Committ ee f or t he Prevention of Torture had criticised Germany in 2012 for the pract i c e , whi l e a c k n owl e d g - ing it was done voluntarily under well- controlled circumstances.

The committee said during the period from 2013 to 2015, “not one single surgic a l c a s t r a t i o n h a d b e e n carried out” – but it called for laws to be changed to p e r m a n e n t l y e n d s u c h procedures.