Therapeutic surgical castration in the Czech republic - mutilation, or deliverance?:

In spite of a long-lasting criticism by several international human rights bodies, the Czech Republic is the last EU member state which still perform therapeutic surgical castration of sex offenders and men suffering from certain paraphilias. While critics consider the practice medically unnecessary and inhuman, proponents claim that therapeutic surgical castration offers the last hope to patients in whom other treatment options failed. This paper analyses the question of whether and under what circumstances can surgical castration be considered permissible. After that, the legal regulation in the Czech Republic and the relevant international criticism are dealt with. The identified criteria of permissibility are then applied to the Czech regulation and practice of castration.